Apple Introduces Apple Business Connect, Apple’s Play for Small Business, Apple’s Mapping Information Layer (Daily Update)
We kick things off with Neil’s thoughts on Apple Business Connect, a new initiative Apple unveiled yesterday. The discussion then turns to Apple’s broader play for small business. We conclude with a goal Apple has with Apple Maps in terms of creating an information layer.
Hello everyone.
One update to yesterday’s email.
An eagle-eyed member pointed out to me last evening that Eddy Cue’s portion of the Apple Services year in review was changed at some point to include the following (key) paragraph that we talked about yesterday:
“Last week marked my 34th anniversary at Apple, and I’ve never been more excited about what’s ahead. This new year of Apple services will be our most exciting yet — and we can’t wait to share it with you.”
The initial release that Apple put out did not include that paragraph. The Wayback Machine suggests Apple updated the press release roughly ten hours later in the early morning hours of the 11th. My first thought was that this was a simple mistake on Apple's part. An older version of the press release may have been published. There was different paragraph spacing between the two versions as well. Nevertheless, the change may have led to some confusion among members who read the release when it first came out on the 10th and who did not see Cue's hinting of 2023 being a big year.
Apple Introduces Apple Business Connect
In a press release issued yesterday, here’s Apple:
“Apple today introduced Apple Business Connect, a free tool that allows businesses of all sizes to claim their location place cards and customize the way key information appears to more than a billion Apple users across Apple Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and other apps.
‘We created Business Connect to provide Apple users around the world with the most accurate information for places to eat, shop, travel, and more,’ said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “Apple Business Connect gives every business owner the tools they need to connect with customers more directly, and take more control over the way billions of people see and engage with their products and services every day.’"
This is an intriguing initiative that has the potential of being both a value-add service for Apple users as well as a development that competitors like Google and Meta need to monitor closely.
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