Apple’s Upgraded Businesses Connect Service Enhances Brand Visibility

After having launched its Business Connect service last year, Apple this week announced that it is adding new features to that platform to help businesses increase their visibility, while also helping their customers combat scammers.

The company said that for the first time, businesses of all sizes around the world — including Australia – can manage the way they appear to over 1 billion Apple users using Apple Business Connect.

Any verified business can now create a brand and location presence across apps including Apple Maps, Wallet, and Mail.

Businesses which register for Apple’s service do not need to have a physical location – they can be providing a service or operating fully online without a physical location.

They can now sign up to display their brand in the Mail and Phone apps, and customise their logo in Tap to Pay on iPhone.

With Branded Mail, these businesses can also display their brand name and logo in emails to customers. The company said that those who now sign up for Branded Mail, will see their logo begin appearing to customers later this year.

As part of its security measures to combat scammers, the company added that businesses can now choose to display their logo, rather than a category icon, when accepting payments through Tap to Pay on iPhone.

These features will allow consumers to tell whether a business is legitimate and confirm that they are dealing with a verified business rather than with a scammer.

From next year, businesses will be able to register for Business Caller ID. Their name, logo, and department appear on the inbound call screen when they contact customers, helping to distinguish verified businesses from spam callers.

IBM recently released its annual Cost of a Data Breach report, which found that the average cost of a data breach in Australia reached a record-high of A$4.26 million in 2024 – a 27 per cent increase since 2020.

Phishing and stolen credentials emerged as the most common initial attack vectors, accounting for 22 per cent and 17 per cent of breaches respectively.