Apple Business Manager (ABM) is getting a new name and a facelift.
It’s being combined with Apple Business Essentials which is an apple-only mdm that they offer in the USA and Canada.
Starting April 14, Apple Business will be available as a free service in the U.S. and 200+ countries and regions to new and existing users of Apple Business Connect, Apple Business Essentials, and Apple Business Manager. For more information, visit business.apple.com/preview.
Ads on Apple Maps will be available to businesses starting this summer in the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit ads.apple.com/maps.
Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect will no longer be available once Apple Business launches. Business Essentials customers will no longer be charged their monthly service fee for device management after April 14. Existing Business Connect data — including claimed locations, place card information, photos, organization information, account details, and more — will automatically migrate to Apple Business at launch.
It will be interesting to see what it’s like – a free MDM from Apple could be good, although it’ll likely have the same sign-up process as ABM currently has which can be a pain to go through. I hope the MDM is somewhat better than Profile Manager that used to be built into Mac OS X Server which was a great proof-of-concept, but never really worked.