Brands are being pitched iMessage as the next high-conversion marketing channel. The promise is easy to understand: higher replies, less SMS friction, and a message that lands in the most trusted interface in consumer messaging; the blue iMessage bubble. But there is a catch. Apple’s official business-messaging product is Apple Messages for Business, and it has a different user experience, different privacy model, different onboarding path, and different rules. Apple’s own privacy...

Apple has quietly introduced a new capability in Apple Messages for Business : Invitations . For the first time, brands can initiate conversations directly with customers inside the Messages (Apple app) . Historically, Apple required customers to start the interaction themselves, typically by tapping a message button on a website, inside an app, or through Apple-controlled surfaces like Maps or Spotlight. That model has now changed. "Invitations" allow companies to proactively invite a...

by David Fernandez Vinuales For more than two decades, SMS has been a driver of retail and beauty direct marketing. Simple, and...