An Apple ?Quicken killer??
Was talking with some other members in iChat last night and we were talking about ?what if Apple did a cool, easy-to-use personal finance iApp??
What do you think?
They?ve got the best digital media apps. They have, IMO, a superior browser. I use iSync and Backup all the time. I?m really starting to get the hang of - and enjoy - iCal.
Keynote seems to be a pretty good thing, as is Mail, Final Cut Express and others.
In other words, with all the above Apple seems to have greatly improved browsing, music and photo management and the like...or at least made it an easy, no-brainer type of activity, requiring little to no brain power or technical, geek savvy.
Something that did what Quicken did, but you could - as a true integrated iApp type of thing - tie it in with others (iCal for showing bills paid and statement dates and so forth, it could track and automatically fill in any iTunes music store purchases OR, for that matter, ANY purchases made at the Apple Store or any other online vendor you configure it to).
In the same way they streamlined, simplified and ?prettied-up? all the above apps, could they - and would it even make sense - do it with a Quicken type of program, geared at the consumer, iCrowd market.
In other words, it would come pre-installed on the iGear and eMacs and be another free download from Apple for those interested. A massive ?de-cluttering? of the Quicken GUI into something really easy and intuitive and useful.
I even hit upon the name Banknote, which everyone seemed to dig.
Imagine some aluminum GUI goodness, some spiffy little icons and registers like iCal in that things can overlap, you can overlay and compare checking and savings, one-step check balancing, bill paying, check printing and a gob of exclusive, jaw-dropping "why doesn't Quicken do that?!" features!
Seems to be one of those missing links.
And for those who say ?but Quicken already comes bundled...?, so what? Do does Explorer (not that I use it). And so does Acrobat Reader, even though I tend to go with Preview.
Is this a halfway good idea or wish, or was it just insomnia-induced musings of a late-night iChat session? I?m curious to know...
Is Quicken indeed ?as good as it gets? and there?s nothing Apple could do better? I seriously, seriously doubt it!
What do you think?
They?ve got the best digital media apps. They have, IMO, a superior browser. I use iSync and Backup all the time. I?m really starting to get the hang of - and enjoy - iCal.
Keynote seems to be a pretty good thing, as is Mail, Final Cut Express and others.
In other words, with all the above Apple seems to have greatly improved browsing, music and photo management and the like...or at least made it an easy, no-brainer type of activity, requiring little to no brain power or technical, geek savvy.
Something that did what Quicken did, but you could - as a true integrated iApp type of thing - tie it in with others (iCal for showing bills paid and statement dates and so forth, it could track and automatically fill in any iTunes music store purchases OR, for that matter, ANY purchases made at the Apple Store or any other online vendor you configure it to).
In the same way they streamlined, simplified and ?prettied-up? all the above apps, could they - and would it even make sense - do it with a Quicken type of program, geared at the consumer, iCrowd market.
In other words, it would come pre-installed on the iGear and eMacs and be another free download from Apple for those interested. A massive ?de-cluttering? of the Quicken GUI into something really easy and intuitive and useful.
I even hit upon the name Banknote, which everyone seemed to dig.
Imagine some aluminum GUI goodness, some spiffy little icons and registers like iCal in that things can overlap, you can overlay and compare checking and savings, one-step check balancing, bill paying, check printing and a gob of exclusive, jaw-dropping "why doesn't Quicken do that?!" features!
Seems to be one of those missing links.
And for those who say ?but Quicken already comes bundled...?, so what? Do does Explorer (not that I use it). And so does Acrobat Reader, even though I tend to go with Preview.
Is this a halfway good idea or wish, or was it just insomnia-induced musings of a late-night iChat session? I?m curious to know...
Is Quicken indeed ?as good as it gets? and there?s nothing Apple could do better? I seriously, seriously doubt it!
Comments
Actually it would be easy to accomplish as a file format since Microsoft/Intuit/Checkfree established the OFX format for banking.
However Quicken has been revived and I doubt Apple went through the work to suddenly enter into competition.
Sad though because Intuit hasn't exactly worked hard to achieve parity between the Mac and Wintel Quicken apps.
Originally posted by markiv
Isn't Quicken more expensive on the Mac than on the PC. IS there anyother software besides that I can use.
Dont know of anything native, but theres GNUcash that comes with gnome via fink. Aint used it meself so dont blame me if its crap.
So why couldn't/shouldn't Apple do it themselves?
It's not that far out, really. Makes more sense than some other apps they could be doing.
if you need slightly more advanced, there's quicken, though it is on the verge of becoming bloatware (remember the days when you used quicken to balance checkbooks, print checks and pay bills, AND THAT WAS IT? wasn't that great?)
anyway, apple seems to be big on entering areas where they feel others just aren't "doing it right" or there isn't enough competing products. if they released an iMoney app, i would think it would look a lot like some of those shareware apps i mentioned, and it wouldn't really integrate with any of their other apps just yet.
but i am sure apple is slapping some code together, just in case quicken decides to drop the mac again. they'd be nuts not to.
the real answer to your question is: did NeXT have a personal finance program? if so, i will bet good money it'll show up in mac os x sooner or later. steve is basically getting to prove to the world that NeXT really was ten years ahead of its time.
It's one piece of software I don't mind downloading off warez sites because I install it and then it rots on my HD. It's really not even worth my time to download on my school's T3 connection. That's how much I love this program....
So, yes, it would be nice if there were some other program out there than could do .qif files.
An iTunes-style interface that makes Quicken look so bad that it looks like... Quicken. Excellent diagrams and charts, some rudimentary budgeting. Solid checkbook entering tools, etc. The basics.
PLUS: The ability to set iSync to sync my financial data across my Macs. Buy lunch at work? Enter the data in Banknote on your work Mac, it's listed on your home Mac by the time you're back from the office. That feature alone would make it worth any money Apple charges.
Also, it could tie into a "wallet" type program that links with Safari, automatically recording your charges when you buy stuff online. It would also automatically record iTunes Music Store and iPhoto purchases.
The Mac needs a solid, commercial banking app. Apple could provide it with ease, and really improve the state of the Mac software landscape.
Kirk