TechCrunch covered an interesting story this week about Intuit questioning Mint.com about it’s marketing claims. While there’s probably no way to argue that Quicken has been an excellent software cash cow for the past decade, it’s also missed the online target.
Intuit, the company behind the well-known Quicken suite of money management software that includes Quicken Online, can’t believe how well its competitor Mint is doing. In fact, they were so bewildered by Mint’s claims of gaining 3,000 new users a day and jumping from 600,000 to 850,000 users in a matter of months that they decided to send a threatening letter demanding an explanation for this apparently inconceivable feat. - TechCrunch
I’ve used Quicken for many years and up until the past few years, I’ve been happy with the convenience of paying bills online – that is – using my computer and Internet connection as opposed to a web based service. So what happened in the past few years? I realised that it would be much better to have an online service that is web based and can be accessed anywhere to handle my accounting. I mean for both business and personal finances. I was frustrated with having to handle my finances at night on the home computer plus that added concern over backups. I went looking for a Mint.com type service before this online financial service was popular. At least I didn’t find it back in 2005. I transferred the Quicken over to my wife who’s done it since.
Even after I turned the controls over to my wife, I went to Intuit or Quicken’s sites several times trying to find an online version both for me and for a few other small businesses that asked me about the best way to manage the books. I never found anything reasonable. Now, be it cost, be it features, or be it ease of use – the incumbant had nothing of interest to me. They send me dozens of upgrade offers a year but no simple message of moving my account to a web based online model.
Quicken’s still got our business. I give them 1 year to get it (get us transferred) to an online version or else I start looking again. But if I hear more compliments about Mint.com and give it a try – well – lets just say I hope they don’t offer a quick import from Quicken.
About Mint.com’s Product
From the Mint.com website: Mint is fresh, intelligent online money management. Not only is Mint free, it saves you money. While existing personal finance software packages require hours to set up, a passion for accounting (is that possible?) and hours of weekly maintenance, Mint is virtually effortless.