Intuit's Quicken for Mac App Sticks to Essentials

Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) has rolled out its first Mac-native application for Quicken. The company's recently acquired Mint.com product team contributed to the product redesign.

Quicken Essentials for Mac, or QEM, offers several new features welcome to Mac users seeking a financial application -- including an expected increase in the number of financial institutions, banks and credit unions they can access.

However, Quicken appears to have watered down some of the more sophisticated functionality. High-level investment tracking is not available in this version, although it may be in future iterations, the company said.

It also doesn't integrate with online tax packages -- a key concern for some users around this time of year. That functionality also may become available in later versions.

The reason for the scaling back of functionality was that Intuit wanted to give the product a "back to the basics" feel, Eddy Wu, product manager for Quicken Essentials for Mac, told MacNewsWorld.

"One thing we hear is that there is so much stuff in these financial applications that it makes it hard to get organized," he said

Also, the qualitative research the company performed prior to development showed that few people who were existing Quicken customers used the full range of features, he said.

Mac Users Have Little Choice

If you are a Mac users who wants a financial application, there are only a few options available, IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell told MacNewsWorld.

"Apple doesn't do a lot of financial software, and not many third-party vendors in this category are targeting it either," he said. Of the options available, Quicken stands out because of its name.

There is no technical reason why few financial apps have gravitated toward the Mac platform, O'Donnell noted.

"Part of the reason why people like the Mac is because it is completely integrated, and the way it works and looks is consistent," he observed. That type of environment and user mindset tends to draw third-party developers for graphics and multimedia design.

Feature Lineup

New features and options in QEM:

• More Banks. Intuit is expanding the number of banks users can access. The application currently imports data from 12,000 financial institutions; that number is expected to increase to 18,000 by year end -- nearly quadruple the previous number of banks, credit unions, credit card companies, brokerage houses and lending institutions supported.
• Improved categorization: QEM "learns" the most popular categories from users to improve categorization over time.
• Improved conversion: The converter feature transfers historical data from past Quicken for Mac (2005, 2006 and 2007), Quicken for Windows (2007, 2008 and 2009), and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Money.

Features in Quicken Mac 2007 that Intuit did not incorporate into QEM:

• Stock lot accounting and other high-level investment tracking. The QEM app shows basic investment information, including net worth and changes in value. More advanced reporting found in past Quicken Products is expected in future versions.
• Bill Pay: Only 6 percent of Quicken users rely on this service, which is why it wasn't included in the Essentials version of Quicken for Mac.
• Integration with TurboTax: Integration with tax products may be possible in the future, the company said.