It took some time, but Intuit's Quicken Essentials for the Mac has finally been released, according to Apple Insider.
The updated version of the personal finance software is a new product that was developed in Cocoa to give it more of a "Mac feel." The new software has doubled the amount of banks available to 8,000 up from 4,000 in the previous version, Quicken Mac 2007. Intuit feels that they will gain access to 16,000 banks in the upcoming 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?"
The updated version also brings about a new learning algorithm, allowing the program to perform easier categorization. It will also allow previous Quicken users on both Windows and Macs to convert, as well as users of Microsoft Money.
Advertised features are:
- View your accounts all in one place. Our completely remained 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 can always know where you stand.
However, you may not want to upgrade just yet, as the new update did drop some features from the 2007 edition. Quicken Essentials has a "light" investment feature, containing a view only version that doesn't perform tax lot accounting. Don't look for it to pay your bills either. Intuit said only about 6 percent of people used that feature. Lastly, there is no direct integration with TurboTax.
The product is available for $69.99 from Intuit as a direct download or as a CD-ROM. Intuit also had recently purchased Mint.com a few months ago, a free service that users can use for personal finance as well.
Image courtesy of AppScout.com
kamizuno
March 01, 2010 at 1:51am
I hate to say it, but this new QEM software is horrible. itʻs like itʻs been stripped of almost all itʻs functionality, and some changes donʻt even seem to make sense. for example, with Quicken 2005 I could manually enter stock names and number of shares, and the 2005 program would get stock quotes from a Intuit server. now all data entry has to be from your bank, thereʻs no way to manually enter stock data, and stock quotes also come exclusively from your bank. so basically I can no longer use Quicken to track my stocks, as my bank doesnʻt have stock data support, and I canʻt enter data manually. I could go on and on about whats missing from QEM, but you can just google it and youʻll see how many buyers will be returning this sad program to Intuit.
eriknokc
February 26, 2010 at 5:06pm
This is such a basic program, it should be a free web based program. It shows upcoming transactions in your register that you have not entered and there is no way to turn this feature off. You really don't know how much money you have in your bank account with your currently paid bills because of this. There is no way to customize any of the features in this software. This is the biggest joke of personal finance software ever! Quicken should pull it off the shelf, finish making this program and then put a complete product on the market. I would even settle for going back to Microsoft Money, if it was still made.
