Quicken Online offers iPhone app
Now, Quicken Online is rolling out an iPhone application. (Yes, Mint and Wesabe already have one.)
According to Intuit via VentureBeat, "financially responsible" people tend to use Quicken's desktop version, while the paycheck-to-paycheck crowd may use the iPhone application.
(No word as to how the paycheck-to-paycheck thing allows for affording an iPhone and an AT&T data plan.)
The goal is to make the financial tracking game easier for those who aren't versed in it as well as make the whole thing portable to boot. Or as VentureBeat's Anthony Ha writes, the people "who use Quicken Online...less to track long-term financial goals or managing dozens of accounts, and more to letting find out whether they’ll have enough money to make rent."
Well said.
An iPhone/iPod touch app is a great way to reach those users, because it allows them to check their finances as they make purchases, and because iPhone adoption is reportedly highest among consumers making between $25,000 and $50,000 per year.
I don't have an iPhone on hand at the moment to give it a whirl, so let's read Ha's impressions:
You can bring up a chart showing the ups and downs in your finances, use the iPhone’s touchscreen to zoom in on specific areas, and tap on specific points to see which transactions ravaged your account. You can also see how much money you have left to spend — not just how much is still in your account, but how much is left after you subtract all your upcoming bills and other financial obligations for the next 30 days — and it’s nice to be able to check that right before you get in line to buy that new electronic toy.
Yep, pretty much what you want from such an app, short of actually moving funds between accounts.
Two more cool features:
- You can manually enter your cash purchases and they will upload to your Quicken Online account; and
- When you run out of cash, the app uses the iPhone’s GPS to find nearby ATMs, noting which charge fees and which do not.
For now, the front page of Quicken Online references the app, but I don't see any references anywhere when I'm signed into my account.
(Still, Quicken Online has added some nice touches since I last logged in, including alerts for overdrafts and uncategorized purchases, timers until the next paycheck, and timers for loan payment deadlines.)
My friends who use the Mint iPhone app quite like it, and it's good that competition is increasing in this arena -- for the good of everyone's finances.
Still, it's obvious that Quicken Online is playing catch up -- despite an immense, pre-existing user base from desktop Quicken, the online version is stick neck-and-neck with startup Mint. This iPhone app may just be the trick to drive new, younger users to the site.