Small business owners are getting special 'Today at Apple' training

A "Today at Apple" session in an Apple Store (Source: Apple)

Apple is launching a "Made for Business" series of Today at Apple sessions about Apple technology for small business owners — and led by small business owners.

"Today at Apple" is a series of free training workshops that began in 2017, and now take place in Apple Stores worldwide. Following special series of events for creatives, "Today at Apple" is now launching ongoing events for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

"At Apple, we know small businesses are the backbone of local communities," said Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's senior vice president of Retail in a statement, "which is why we are constantly innovating to help at every stage of their growth."

"Our retail stores provide only-at-Apple experiences such as community and education sessions, free Today at Apple programming," she continued, "and ongoing support from in-store experts who help small businesses find the perfect technology to supercharge their work."

The new business sessions are launching alongside National Small Business Week (April 28 to May 4, 2024), and initially will be in Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Apple says they will continue throughout the year and expand to more stores worldwide.

Unlike most "Today at Apple" sessions, stores are only broadly receiving the same events. Instead, they're being presented by small business owners working in the area.

So for instance, Apple Union Square in San Francisco will have a session called "Bringing Filipino Fusion to the Bay with Senor Sisig," which is on May 2, 2024, from 5:30pm to 6:15pm local time.

A session at Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C., will feature Theodore Miller, director of National Operations for Mozzeria, a Deaf-owned pizzeria.

"Apple's innovations have been key in helping us boost efficiency and connect with customers," said Miller. "Whether it's using Dictation on iPhone or iPad for speech to text in the Notes app, or enabling Live Captions for phone calls, Apple's tools help bridge communication gaps and set higher standards for businesses in today's fast-paced world."

In all, six different sessions are being offered across the various stores, and all are focused on introducing business owners to Apple's tools. Specifically, there are three key Apple Services for businesses that are being promoted:

Apple Business Connect
Apple Business Essentials
Tap to Pay on iPhone

Apple Business Connect is the service that lets businesses customize their details on Apple Maps. Apple Business Essentials is a device management service to help firms that deploy iPhones and Macs to their staff.

Then Tap to Pay may be getting some odd criticism, but this service for letting customers pay contactlessly is increasingly popular with small businesses.