Apple's Business Manager provides web-based IT management, launches this spring
In a move that flew under the radar with this week's iPad launch and education announcements, Apple began the quiet promotion of a new web-based business management platform to deploy and manage iOS, macOS, and tvOS devices.

A web-based portal that lets administrators configure device settings, create accounts, and buy and distribute apps and books, Business Manager is currently in beta, but Apple says the new platform will launch in earnest in late spring.
Seemingly built on existing mass device deployment (MDM) frameworks, the new service integrates features already seen in the Device Enrollment Program (DEP) and the Volume Purchase Program (VPP). The ability to create accounts and manage devices is very similar to Apple School Manager, which first saw light of day in 2016.
Over the past few years Apple has slowly expanded the availability of its existing DEP and VPP business management programs to additional countries. A web-based portal should bring those tools up to speed with offerings from third-party firms.
Apple has been concentrating on a buildout of its business and education verticals recently, with additional education management features announced just last week. Apple started offering MDM for iOS devices back with iOS 7.1.
Another recent move to increase Apple's enterprise foothold has been their growing partnership with IBM and the MobileFirst initiative. Apple just recently added new machine learning integrations to the project through Apple's coreML and IBM's Watson.
Apple's in-house MDM solution for enterprise has needed improvements for some time, leading third-party solutions like JAMF to flourish. JAMF, which now manages more than 9 million Apple devices, saw record growth last year as Apple pushed further into the enterprise market.
Business admins can learn more about Apple's new Business Management platform in a support document published this week (PDF link). Existing users of Apple's DEP and VPP programs looking to try out Business Manager can contact the company to request an account upgrade.

A web-based portal that lets administrators configure device settings, create accounts, and buy and distribute apps and books, Business Manager is currently in beta, but Apple says the new platform will launch in earnest in late spring.
Seemingly built on existing mass device deployment (MDM) frameworks, the new service integrates features already seen in the Device Enrollment Program (DEP) and the Volume Purchase Program (VPP). The ability to create accounts and manage devices is very similar to Apple School Manager, which first saw light of day in 2016.
Over the past few years Apple has slowly expanded the availability of its existing DEP and VPP business management programs to additional countries. A web-based portal should bring those tools up to speed with offerings from third-party firms.
Apple has been concentrating on a buildout of its business and education verticals recently, with additional education management features announced just last week. Apple started offering MDM for iOS devices back with iOS 7.1.
Another recent move to increase Apple's enterprise foothold has been their growing partnership with IBM and the MobileFirst initiative. Apple just recently added new machine learning integrations to the project through Apple's coreML and IBM's Watson.
Apple's in-house MDM solution for enterprise has needed improvements for some time, leading third-party solutions like JAMF to flourish. JAMF, which now manages more than 9 million Apple devices, saw record growth last year as Apple pushed further into the enterprise market.
Business admins can learn more about Apple's new Business Management platform in a support document published this week (PDF link). Existing users of Apple's DEP and VPP programs looking to try out Business Manager can contact the company to request an account upgrade.
Comments
“mass device deployment (MDM)”
Did you mean to say mass device management, or did you mean to use MDD throughout the article?This is one reason why I think Apple should eventually buy IBM. If Apple wants to push further into the enterprise, buying IBM would give them the "in" they haven't quite been able to obtain themselves - although Tim Cook has been doing a fairly good job so far. Not to mention they could finally bring their data centers and cloud services completely "in house" removing their dependency on Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Then there's Watson AI and, of course, their world renowned research and development division.
If there's one thing I've noticed with Apple is that they tend to release products and services with a lot of fanfare, but some of them they let fall by the wayside. Watching the recent education event was exciting, but at the same time, I remember the last one... Everything announced then eventually fizzled out.
I think if Apple had IBM under the roof, a lot of these initiatives and services wouldn't languish as they seem to do.
The days of imaging are numbered with newer Macs being released and APFS also being out there with limited imaging support. Everything is going the way of DEP and MDM with internet restore as your "reimage".
You're correct. It's "mobile," not "mass."
Will never happen. Ever.