GoKawiilFor over a decade, the enterprise email and calendar market has been a two-horse race between Microsoft and Google. If you started a new company, you bought your domain and immediately signed up for either Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. With the launch of the new Apple Business platform, Apple is officially throwing its hat into the ring to challenge Google and Microsoft with a free business email service.
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Fully hosted email and custom domains
Apple is introducing fully integrated email, calendar, and directory services directly within the new Apple Business portal for up to 500 users. Businesses can use their own custom domain name or purchase a new one directly from Apple. Users get 5GB of free iCloud storage, but IT teams can easily upgrade users to tiers up to 2TB starting at just $0.99 per user per month.
These new services are designed to streamline operations right out of the box. Apple is including essential business scheduling tools like calendar delegation, which is an absolute requirement for busy executives and assistants, and a built-in company directory. This directory will make it easy for employees to connect with user groups and view personalized contact cards across their devices.
Apple’s new business email will be compatible with any IMAP-capable email client. Apple’s calendar service will support any CalDAV-compliant calendar app. This means full support across Android and Windows as well.
9to5Mac’s take
From an IT perspective, it is clear that Apple is targeting net-new businesses and startups. If you are a founder walking into an Apple Store to buy a MacBook and an iPhone to start your company, Apple can now offer you the device management software, the custom domain, the hosted email, and the company calendar all under one roof.
I don’t believe many businesses that are entrenched in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 will switch today, but Apple is likely to continue expanding this solution over time. A big part of that is that it’s free. While Google offered free @yourdomain.com email for many years, it was phased out in 2022. If Google and Microsoft continue to slowly raise prices, Apple’s free business email will remain a free alternative built right into macOS, iOS, and iPadOS.
The technical aspect of this announcement is that Apple is supporting open standards for email and calendar, so there is no requirement for businesses to swap out their entire fleets if they have some users on Android or Windows.