Intuit intros long-awaited Quicken overhaul for Mac
After numerous delays, Quicken's long-awaited money management software built specifically for the Mac arrived Thursday in the form of Quicken Essentials for Mac 2010.
Quicken Essentials for Mac is a brand new product developed in Cocoa to optimize the Mac look and feel. It connects twice the number of banks available in the previous offering, Quicken Mac 2007, increasing from 4,000 to 8,000. The company expects to have access to 16,000 banks in the coming months.
"Quicken Essentials for Mac is the first Quicken product to take full advantage of the Mac operating system and development platform," said Aaron Patzer, vice president and general manager of Intuit?s Personal Finance Group. "We?re bringing a completely new Quicken experience to Mac users, helping them answer essential money questions ? what do I spend, what do I earn, where do I stand on my budgets, what is my net worth, and where can I do better?"
Quicken developer Intuit said the new product earned its name because it offers the "essentials" for the majority of people: How much money you have, how much you owe, all your liabilities and investments, and all of your budgeting.
Quicken Essentials for Mac also sports easier categorization with a new learning algorithm, and also allows conversion for previous Quicken users on both Windows and Mac, as well as users of Microsoft Money.
Advertised features of the new software include:
View your accounts all in one place. Our completely reimagined interface makes it easier than ever to see where you can save more and spend less.
Save time and money. Quicken automatically categorizes transactions so you can see where your money?s going and pay down debt.
Avoid pesky overdraft and late fees. See your current balance, including upcoming bills and paychecks so you always know where you stand.
The new product does drop some features found in the previous version, Quicken Mac 2007, which Intuit said it will continue to support for those that rely on those capabilities. Quicken Essentials for Mac has a "light" investment feature, with a view only version that doesn't have tax lot accounting. It also doesn't do bill pay -- which Intuit said only 6 percent of people used -- and there is no direct integration with TurboTax.
AppleInsider first previewed the Quicken overhaul more than two years ago, in January 2008, when it was then known as "Quicken Financial Life for Mac."
Quicken Essentials for Mac 2010 is available for $69.99 from Intuit. It is available as a direct download, or via CD-ROM.
Quicken Essentials for Mac is a brand new product developed in Cocoa to optimize the Mac look and feel. It connects twice the number of banks available in the previous offering, Quicken Mac 2007, increasing from 4,000 to 8,000. The company expects to have access to 16,000 banks in the coming months.
"Quicken Essentials for Mac is the first Quicken product to take full advantage of the Mac operating system and development platform," said Aaron Patzer, vice president and general manager of Intuit?s Personal Finance Group. "We?re bringing a completely new Quicken experience to Mac users, helping them answer essential money questions ? what do I spend, what do I earn, where do I stand on my budgets, what is my net worth, and where can I do better?"
Quicken developer Intuit said the new product earned its name because it offers the "essentials" for the majority of people: How much money you have, how much you owe, all your liabilities and investments, and all of your budgeting.
Quicken Essentials for Mac also sports easier categorization with a new learning algorithm, and also allows conversion for previous Quicken users on both Windows and Mac, as well as users of Microsoft Money.
Advertised features of the new software include:
View your accounts all in one place. Our completely reimagined interface makes it easier than ever to see where you can save more and spend less.
Save time and money. Quicken automatically categorizes transactions so you can see where your money?s going and pay down debt.
Avoid pesky overdraft and late fees. See your current balance, including upcoming bills and paychecks so you always know where you stand.
The new product does drop some features found in the previous version, Quicken Mac 2007, which Intuit said it will continue to support for those that rely on those capabilities. Quicken Essentials for Mac has a "light" investment feature, with a view only version that doesn't have tax lot accounting. It also doesn't do bill pay -- which Intuit said only 6 percent of people used -- and there is no direct integration with TurboTax.
AppleInsider first previewed the Quicken overhaul more than two years ago, in January 2008, when it was then known as "Quicken Financial Life for Mac."
Quicken Essentials for Mac 2010 is available for $69.99 from Intuit. It is available as a direct download, or via CD-ROM.
Comments
Guess that Mint.com investment Intuit made will pay off.
Now all I want is pocket quicken to come to the iphone OS
Don't bother waiting. If this is the direction Quicken for Mac is taking, then you might as well just use the free Mint.com app.
$70 for a crippled version that does not have any features and does not integrate with your tax software is a rip off. Maybe for 29 dollars I would think about it. Apple needs to release iTax and iSave and make these things work. Ah who am I kidding I will have to use windows for all of my financial needs forever.
You beat me to it. But $29 is still too expensive. $0 is more like it.
Note to Intuit: We want feature parity, not half a product.
*Quicken and TurboTax are both Intuit products, aren't they?
Now all I want is pocket quicken to come to the iphone OS
I can't believe they have made no move after 3 years of the iPhone. Maybe they will now that iPad is coming around and will create a larger base.
I pretty much track my money with SplashMoney on the iPhone and use Quicken to download historical data. The iPhone version is good, but I'd tell everyone to avoid the desktop version like a fatal disease, which IT IS to your data. Still, doing it all (get e-bills, pay & record) on the iPhone is fan-friggin-tastic.
I'd pay twice the cost of Quicken for Moneywell, but actually Moneywell is less expensive as well.
Nice first baby step towards full feature parity with Quicken Windows, I hope.
You might be interested in the following
In the on-air discussion, Patzer said Intuit plans to keep selling desktop versions of Quicken for Windows PCs and Apple (AAPL) Macs for perhaps five years further.
Intuit released this crippled version of Quicken for the Mac because Intuit does not plan to continue with Quicken for the desktops. The product will be phased out in favor of online mint.com. Do you think it is a coincidence that the CEO of mint.com is now in charge of all Quicken products?
I hate that I have to have VMWare Fusion on my Macs to run Quicken Windows, but even before this obvious severe castrating of the Mac version, Quicken for Mac was a joke if you had business and investment data to track.
I looked at iBank on the Mac, but too much hassle to import data over. I guess Intuit's forcing us to find a way out of their proprietary data format eventually.
The fact that Intuit owns Mint.com now is probably a good indicator that Mint.com is on its way out too. I have Mint.com, but it's just no replacement for my desktop Quicken.
I want to use mint.com but is it really safe? Giving out my bank account information is like asking a stranger to take something out of my eye... that's just me, but maybe I'm overreacting.
I think you're overreacting. My understanding is that Mint doesn't actually get your password data, it's passed on to some password broker that all the banks already use to store you login credentials. Do a little Google searching for a clearer picture, but I'm pretty sure no one's had their financial data compromised just by the act of registering acccounts with Mint.
Don't bother waiting. If this is the direction Quicken for Mac is taking, then you might as well just use the free Mint.com app.
Intiut bought Mint.com. Also, there is already a free Quicken app for the iPhone that is basically the same as Mint's app. It even supports more banks than Mint does (none of the banks I use are supported by Mint).
*Quicken and TurboTax are both Intuit products, aren't they?
Yes they are.
Moving your finances online seems pretty dumb in my book. Talk about an identity thief's treasure trove! Anybody tried gnuCash as a QB alternative recently?
Too little, too late. Intuit has never been serious about a financial app for the Apple platform. Go with iBank instead - works with many banks online and has a great iphone app (for $5).
Say what? Maybe not Quicken but Turbo tax for Mac rocks. Isn't that a financial application?
I honestly can't imagine living on Mint.com or similar. I have over 23 years of data in Quicken at my "fingertips". Maybe I don't really need it, but I've used the ability search for a purchase years ago frequently.
I hate that I have to have VMWare Fusion on my Macs to run Quicken Windows, but even before this obvious severe castrating of the Mac version, Quicken for Mac was a joke if you had business and investment data to track.
Totally in agreement with you. I can't believe that after waiting for //years// for a decent Mac equivalent of Quicken for Windows, this is the best they could do. I've been using Quicken since version 4 or 5 for DOS, and was looking forward to finally getting a powerful, native version that would run on my Mac, rather than having to rely upon VM Fusion, etc. That looks like it's never gonna happen.
I honestly can't imagine living on Mint.com or similar. I have over 23 years of data in Quicken at my "fingertips". Maybe I don't really need it, but I've used the ability search for a purchase years ago frequently.
I hate that I have to have VMWare Fusion on my Macs to run Quicken Windows, but even before this obvious severe castrating of the Mac version, Quicken for Mac was a joke if you had business and investment data to track.
I looked at iBank on the Mac, but too much hassle to import data over. I guess Intuit's forcing us to find a way out of their proprietary data format eventually.
The fact that Intuit owns Mint.com now is probably a good indicator that Mint.com is on its way out too. I have Mint.com, but it's just no replacement for my desktop Quicken.
I'm in the same boat, and share your frustration. I have been looking forward to a powerful native version of Quicken for Mac for years, but I guess that's never gonna happen. (Sigh).