Intuit Debuts First Mac-Native Quicken Essentials
Before "QEM," as Inuit calls the new product, all Intuit software for Macintosh computers were adapted from applications first designed for PCs. Quicken Essentials for Mac, however, was "built from the ground up with the look and feel Mac users expect," the vendor said in the Thursday announcement.
QEM's features provide "quick set-up, ease-of-use and Mac-like inventiveness in design and workflow," the company said. The redesign stems from the influence of the development team from Mint.com, the provider of online personal finance services that Intuit acquired in November for approximately $170 million.
QEM imports data from 12,000 financial institutions, a number Intuit expects to reach 18,000 by the end of the year -- nearly four times the number of banks, credit unions, brokerages and credit card companies supported by older versions of the software.
The new product also offers improved categorization of financial data, learning how to categorize information over time as consumers use the application. Intuit said that means users spend less time organizing transactions.
The software's converter feature easily transfers historical data from older versions of Quicken for Mac, Quicken for Windows and Microsoft Money, Intuit said
The product is available for download or from retailers priced at $69.