Apple's new feature 'Business Chat' will allow customers to chat directly with businesses

Photo: Apple 

As part of the forthcoming iOS 11.3 update, Apple will soon be rolling out Business Chat. The Cupertino-based multinational technology company first announced the new feature last year at its Worldwide Developer Conference. 

The feature takes advantage of Apple’s messaging platform, allowing customers to chat directly with businesses. Through the platform, customers can communicate with service representatives as well as schedule appointments and make payments via Apple Pay. This will all happen without the customer's contact information being revealed and the customer having the ability to end the chat at anytime. 

Business Chat will launch in beta this spring with Lowes, Discover, Hilton, and Wells Fargo as early partners. 

Despite being late to the game, this move into the B2C text communication space is a smart one. With Facebook, Google, and WhatsApp having similar business messaging platforms, it only makes sense that Apple joins the party and capitalizes on the growing trend. 

In addition, studies such as Facebook's Nielsen study reported that 56 percent of people prefer to text over call and 67 percent of people said that they expect to be able to message businesses more over the next two years. 

In other technology news, Kevin Durant and his Thirty Five Media company are partnering up with YouTube. 

SOURCE: Apple