Tag: Small Business

Apple provides report on small business growth on App Store. According to report earnings for small developers increased by 71% between 2020 and 2022.

Growth is not uniform on per-country basis. France is leading with 122% growth, followed by US with 87%.

Apple also highlights that over 40% of companies that grew over $1M in earnings (technically excluding themselves from Small Business as per App Store rules) were founded in last five years.

Report: Small Business Developers and App Creators on the App Store in 2022 (PDF)

Apple Newsroom: Small developers on the App Store grew revenue by 71 percent from 2020-2022

Today Apple announced availability of Apple Business Connect.

With Business Connect, businesses around the world can now directly manage their information in the interactive Apple Maps place card, including adding and updating photos and logos; inviting customers to take actions like ordering food or making a reservation directly from Maps; and presenting customers with special promotions.

Apple Newsroom

New feature will allow also to provide more info and relevant actions which could be performed at specific place, allowing better mobile app or website promotions.

Showcases, a new feature in the place card, helps businesses present customers with offers and incentives, like seasonal menu items, product discounts, and more. Businesses can easily update the Showcase section of their place card through Business Connect. Showcases are available to businesses in the US beginning today, and will be available to businesses globally in coming months. 

Businesses can also provide customers with useful information by highlighting actions for them to take directly from the Maps place card, like ordering groceries via Instacart, making a hotel reservation through Booking.com, or reserving a spot for dinner with OpenTable, and more, with just a tap.

Apple Newsroom

Apple Business Connect

Apple Newsroom: Introducing Apple Business Connect

References:

• Apple Business Connect launches as free tool to help organize key information across services
• Apple Launches a New Program Allowing Business Owners to Manage Their Place Cards in Maps and Other Apps

When App Store Small Business program was announced, there were submission rejections related to app transfers made by developers. Apple is now informing developers regarding the change in guidelines essentially allowing app transfers.

Reference:

• App Store Small Business Program no longer prohibits app transfers
• App Store Small Business Program Now Allows Transfers

Apple introduced new program for small businesses – Business Essentials. This program provides iCloud storage, device management and device support to organizations with up to 500 employees.

A set of three simple Apple Business Essentials plans enable businesses to cover every employee and device in their organization. Plans can be customized to support each user with up to three devices and up to 2TB of secure storage in iCloud, starting at $2.99 per month, with optional AppleCare+ for Apple Business Essentials.

Apple Press Release

Service is currently available in beta (and, therefore, lacks AppleCare+ support).

During court hearings Apple agrees to create Small Developer Assistance Fund which provides financial aid for developers in US.

Eligible developers will be able to receive a payment between $250 and $30,000 from Apple depending on their total App Store earnings between June 4, 2015 and April 26, 2021, as outlined in the chart below from the settlement filing. 

MacRumors