Apple wants more people buying things via iMessage
Back off, Facebook Messenger.
Apple is now looking to support business owners in their quest to best serve their customers with a new feature called Business Chat.
Released during Apple Worldwide Developers Conference -- but left out of the keynote -- is a chat function that is able to integrate with Apple's Messages software. The new feature was added to Apple's developer website; we discovered it thanks to Owen Williams.
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Apple's mockup of the feature shows a father inquiring what iPad to buy his daughter for college.
The chat feature can be discovered through Maps, Siri, and Search as well as business's own apps and websites, according to the website's description. Developers can integrate Apple's exclusive business functions like Apple Pay and Apple Calendar along with iMessage apps.
"Business Chat helps you build persistent, long-lasting relationships with your customers," the page reads.
As Williams noted, the feature is a potential swipe at Facebook, which offers customer service for businesses via Facebook Pages and Messenger. As Facebook has repeatedly encouraged, businesses could run their online presence on the social network.
Twitter also has been ramping up its customer service functionalities. The 140-character site was popularized by customers publicly-shaming companies, and now Twitter has introduced new direct messaging features to make it easier for business representatives to address these concerns.
Still, there's another place businesses can reach customers where they are: Apple's Messages, on their iPhones, iPads and Macs. Though that doesn't reach everyone. There's still China's popular chat app WeChat.
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The function appears to still be in beta for developers in iOS 11.
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
