Intuit Inc. today released Quicken Mac 2007.
This new version of Quicken, designed for Mac users, introduces a variety of new product features to help them better manage their finances throughout their life. New features include comprehensive paycheck management, 401(k) investment management and a QuickEntry dashboard widget — a Mac-exclusive feature that makes data entry simple and straightforward.
“With the signature ease of use and unique style of the Macintosh, Quicken Mac 2007 is the personal finance software package that will accommodate your needs from next payday until you begin drawing down funds from your 401(k) plan,” said Glenn Tom, director and offering leader for Quicken consumer products, in the press release. “Managing personal finances has never been easier for Macintosh owners.”
To help consumers better prepare for retirement, Quicken Mac enables them to download and track 401(k) accounts and investments — share holdings, daily prices and more — from within the program. Rather than logging on to a third-party site, users can now monitor returns and move funds among various investment options — all within the familiar Quicken Mac interface.
In addition, the newest Quicken Mac gives customers the ability to download, track, and verify the accuracy of information contained in their paycheck via a simple-to-use interface. Keeping a close eye on federal, state and local payroll taxes, insurance premiums, FICA, and other items listed on paychecks has never been easier.
For those who don’t have time to open Quicken but want to quickly jot down some details of an expense, the software offers a new QuickEntry widget. This shortcut, which resides in the Mac dashboard, is ready to use at a moment’s notice. Users enter an expense by simply clicking the QuickEntry widget and filling in the amount. The next time Quicken is opened, the entry will automatically be recorded.
Managing Daily Finances: Like all Quicken products, Quicken Mac 2007 makes it easy to stay on top of deposits and payments.
• Schedule and pay recurring items, such as mortgage payments and utility bills, for maximum efficiency.
• Receive reminders for irregular payments such as insurance premiums and estimated quarterly tax payments.
• Get the big picture of overall finances and the ability to examine the fine details of any item or transaction, from current net worth and its value at retirement to the details of last month’s cell phone bill.
• Find the answers to either archival or forward-looking questions with just a few clicks of a mouse.
.Mac Backup Provides Peace of Mind: As recent natural disasters have reminded us, offsite data backup is imperative and can provide much-needed peace of mind. Available only for Mac users, .Mac provides offsite backup of Quicken Mac data files. Backup to a .Mac account is easy — accessible from within the software. And restoring data, if needed, is quick and simple. The .Mac service is sold separately by Apple Computer Inc.
Quicken Personal Finance Software for Mac 2007 is available beginning today in retail stores and can be purchased or downloaded directly at http://www.quicken.com. The suggested retail price is $69.99.
More info here.
One one more thing. Intuit usually releases about 2-3 maintenance releases/version. I would wait for the first one before buying it.
The “Hey, We’ve added 3 features, now give us 70 bucks” annual joke for Intuit is always good for a laugh.
Especially given how far behind the Mac version is from the PC version (Note to Intuit: This practice by major software publishers stopped about 6 years ago.)
But, back on point, the fact that out of the 3 features, Intuit didn’t even make it Universal is almost insulting.
Making an app like Quicken a universal binary is simply not hard. And I am certain apple would of lent engineers if need be.
This is clearly either a company which knows nothing about the mac platform, is trying to put as little money in the product as possible, or is trying to squeeze another update out of its customers.
Intuit simply sucks. Such a shame too since they were once a great company.
I hope Apple gives us a Quicken replacement. I’ve bought every version of Quicken since the late 80’s, but this is the final straw.
Quicken is inferior.
I would recommend running MS Money in Parallels. It’s a much better product and interfaces with more online institutions making your life much easier. I wish this was not the case and Quicken was better on the Mac than anything on the PC; but it’s not. I guess we Mac people should be happy we have anything! Remember when they dropped all Mac offerings (Quicken and Quickbooks) until Jobs begged them to come back to the platform? We are far away from that now. But they are putting all their revenues into their pocket instead of improving the product because they think we don’t have an alternative.
Pick MS Money until Quicken impoves.
Just my 2¢.
“Same features as quicken deluxe for windows” but $10 more?
If I have to run Quicken in Rosetta anyway, I’ll just stick with the 2006 version that was pre-loaded on my iMac and save the $70. They have given me absolutely no reason to upgrade until they get off their lazy asses and make the application Universal.
Micro TAC
Interesting suggestion however the cost of MS Money + Parallels + Windows isn’t worth it.
Now if you have other Windows only apps that you need to run then it may be a viable option.
Microshaft is missing the boat here. A Mac version of Money that’s as good as the PC version would be a money maker. I would pick M$ over Intuit. At least Office for Mac works well.
Microsoft will never develop Money or anything else for the Mac outside of the current Office apps. They’ve been gradually backing off on Mac development for the last 5 years now (dropping IE, WMP, etc).
Besides, they’ve got enough problems getting their own Windows software developed on time, but that’s a whole ‘nother story entirely…
I’ve read a couple of places that said that Intuit was targeting the 2008 version for Universal Binary. It’s also been said that the 2008 version will begin bringing the whole Windows version / Mac version together, and that it should be completely cross platform. That’s what was floating on Quicken’s support forums. How much truth to that, who knows?
In the meantime, I’m not sure if I’ll upgrade or not. As much as I’d hate to continue supporting an inferior version of Quicken, I also realize that if Quicken’s sales don’t show any interest in the software they release, they’ll stop producing all together. I’m afraid rebuking them might be a double edged sword.
I tried using quicken for mac 2007, but I have a very basic problem. The reason I got myself a 20″ imac is because I have a hard time reading small script. Do you know that in this mac version, the font is defaulted at 10 pt. I went on a chat with their tech support– and this was confirmed. You can increase the font size on the reports and checks. This is one reason i cannot use it. Actually I have not tested it to know how it works, but it stopped right there. You can zoom to enlarge the register but the font is so tiny. Any suggestions on how I can enlarge the font (perhaps you know better than Intuit’s tech support)?
One more basic thing I noticed– you can’t manually change “c” to “r” (from clear to reconcile) on the column immediately beside the amount. I don’t like to use their reconcile and I usually do this manually. Can’t. These are small matters but they are basic to me!