Apple's New Feature Lets Brands Put Their Stamp On Emails, Calls To Your iPhone 27
Apple is enhancing its Business Connect tool, allowing companies to customize how they appear in emails, phone calls, and payment interfaces on iPhones. The Verge reports: Each registered business can confirm its info is accurate and add additional details like photos or special offers. Collecting verified, up-to-date business information could be useful for Apple if it ever launches its own search engine or inside features for Apple Intelligence instead of sending users to outside sources like Google, Yelp, or Meta. Branded Mail is a feature businesses can sign up for today before it starts rolling out to users later this year, potentially making emails easier to identify in a sea of unread messages.
Additionally, if companies opt into Business Caller ID, Apple will display their name, logo, and department on an iPhone's inbound call screen. This feature should come in handy when you're trying to figure out whether the random number that's calling you is spam, or if it's a legitimate business. It will start rolling out next year. A smaller update coming to Apple's Tap to Pay service will let companies show their logo when accepting payments instead of just displaying a category icon. You can read more about it in Apple's press release.
Additionally, if companies opt into Business Caller ID, Apple will display their name, logo, and department on an iPhone's inbound call screen. This feature should come in handy when you're trying to figure out whether the random number that's calling you is spam, or if it's a legitimate business. It will start rolling out next year. A smaller update coming to Apple's Tap to Pay service will let companies show their logo when accepting payments instead of just displaying a category icon. You can read more about it in Apple's press release.
The Ad That Made/Ruined Apple (Score:2, Interesting)
- sent from my iPhone
I always wanted ads on my phone calls and texts (Score:2, Interesting)
"I always wanted ads on my phone calls and texts"....said no one ever.
I said it and it's not an ad (Score:4, Interesting)
"I always wanted ads on my phone calls and texts"....said no one ever.
I guess I am a no one then...and also, it's not an ad, it's a logo and more likely to be legit (not spoofed) if they have to go through Apple. Company logos was one of my favorite features of Rocket Money because it made it easier to sort through transactions. Got 1000 lines?...well...once you start adding familiar logos, it gets a lot easier to sort and spot anomalies.
This will make it easier to sort through my e-mails quickly with a colorful visual indicator instead of just relying on text. This isn't an ad. At worst, it's pointless, but not really a nuisance....at best, it's a tiny help in visually identifying e-mails and call. This is an example of one of those very minor Apple innovations...that's just "nice"...not "amazing" not "life changing"...not even tangibly "life improving"...just "kinda nice." It's free. It makes sorting through spam 1% easier....I like it.
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What? So brainwashed that we can no longer see what is advertising and what is communication.
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-- brought to you by Carl's Junior.
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As long as Apple sticks to this. I am sure they will find the revenue stream to allow "logos" that are animations with sounds that soon get loud, and trigger vibrators, too. what revenue stream enhancing innovation comes next?
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That's a theoretical, I care about reality (Score:2)
That's the problem. They start with something simple and rather unobrusive, and turn it into a complete fucking clown circus. Like what started as a small static banner ad is now a video popup completely covering over the content you are trying to read and it keeps-fucking-coming-back ("I clicked the X already, you asswipes. That means I don't want to fucking see it again"). So expect this to be the start of the iClown experience
Anything can be abused. I don't go around fearing all the "what-ifs" because they are infinite. I fear what is happening right now. Apple has no incentive to do this. Their brand is being unobtrusive and a luxury phone/tablet/laptop seller. It is counter to their interests to abuse things like Amazon did with Prime Video. That doesn't guarantee they won't...it's just when I go to a fancy expensive steakhouse, I assume people didn't piss on my food...an overcrowded McDonald's in a bad neighborhood?...le
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"I always wanted ads on my phone calls and texts"
You've clearly never heard how far Apple users will go to defend their brand's decisions. This is exactly the kind of shit they would say.
Is this why Apple is always behind? (Score:2)
The new features lists for iOS are always just a list of stuff Android did years ago. Is it because Apple spends their time catering to other corporations instead of their users?
Re:Is this why Apple is always behind? (Score:4, Informative)
Step 1. Someone develops a new technology and irons out the kinks.
Step 2. Eventually Apple decided to release their own version.
Step 3. Apple users are oblivious to new/cutting edge technology and therefore hail Apple's version as "revolutionary".
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Apple are playing catch up when it comes to monetizing their users. Traditionally it's been through hardware cost and App Store. Now they're finding other revenue streams.
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Or just waiting to see how it turns out. I'm sure Google did it first because why not, and Apple simply waited to see if there's going to be major pushback, or to see what the general reaction is.
If it's a good feature, then Apple will implement it. If it's something users hate, Apple will either see what the pain points are if it's
Caller ID (Score:2)
Re:Caller ID (Score:4, Interesting)
I actually had an idea a while back about a way to add verification to calls without requiring any changes to the network. You set up a registar that can verify identities (preferably not a shitty SSL cert type scenario) and issues a key to the entity. When they phone you, they also send a messsage to the registar , signed with the key, saying "im trying to call number xyz". When your phone rings, it checks the registar to see if that number has an entry, and if it does, is there a call being made from them. If the registar replies "Yes and yes" , its a safe call to answer , if it replies "Yes and no" then its spoofed and should be blocked, If it replies "no and no" then its an unknown situation.
From there the regiistar can keep a statistical track of whos calling who tto see if theres a pattern of spoofing and potentially block it.
Downsides: It would need to be opt in so people can choose if they want to live with the possible privacy implications. It could also be used by govts via subpoenas for nefarious purpose. There may well be a decentreralized alternative that negates this problem.
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I use the "silence unknown callers" toggle (Score:4)
So, branded or not, those calls are not going to connect with me, ever - unless they leave a voicemail that gives me an actual reason to call them back.
standard (Score:2)
Now make it into an open standard, like libavatar, or at least an industry standard, like gravatar, and let everyone join for free. Why not use something like one of those if they are already in place? If I make a phone call, why not show my picture too?
How is this different from BIMI? (Score:2)
How is this different from BIMI [bimigroup.org] that Apple supposedly started rolling out 2 years ago [bimigroup.org]?
Missing word (Score:2)
potentially making emails easier to identify in a sea of unread messages
potentially making spam emails easier to identify in a sea of unread messages.
Cue messages & calls from... (Score:2)
Implementation? (Score:2)
Fake by 1 pixel different? (Score:2)
How am I supposed to know what my bank's official logo is? And if every business is allowed to join, then scammers can and will get the official logos or images, change them by 1 pixel, and then call with that.