Intuit Throwing The Towel
I’ve been a user of Mint for more than a year now and really like the service. It’s quite impressive how much better their web app is today compared to a year ago. Here’s a company that is capitalizing on an opportunity, and executing really really well. It’s not surprising that they are approaching a million users.
Now, if you’ve ever shown any interest in personal finance applications, you’ve probably heard of Intuit, the company that makes Quicken. Intuit is also behind Quickbooks, an accounting package for small businesses that I use and don’t enjoy very much.
Truth is, Intuit used to be the big guy on the block when it comes to personal/small biz finance software but they stumbled and the Internet is now full of web-based applications for personal finance. Some of them are quite excellent, such as Mint and Wesabe, just to name a few. Intuit’s dominance is slowly eroding.
And then today, TechCrunch reports that Intuit sent Mint a letter questioning their adoption numbers and implicitly accusing them of false advertising. The letter became public and it’s embarrassing that Intuit chose to take this type of step to get in the way of a competitor that is running circles around them.
Having been involved in a legal imbroglio related to a trademark that completely slowed things down and cost a lot of time, energy and money, I am very critical of these sorts of legal maneuvers. If you can’t compete at the user experience level or product quality or cost, what do you do? Call the lawyers!
20. February 2009 at 1:58 pm :
Chelsea from Quicken here…
We’d like to apologize to Mint.com if our letter came across as anything but a simple request to understand how they count their users. Businesses do this all the time and we appreciate their reply.
We are so pleased with the rapid growth of Quicken Online, we were just curious about how we’re doing. And now that we have a common yardstick by which to measure, we know we’re doing great based on an apples-to-apples comparison. Quicken Online now has more than 650,000 users and has been adding on average approximately 45,000 new users a week since Jan. 2009.
So now you know…customers are choosing Quicken Online more than ever before.
Thanks,
Chelsea, Quicken
20. February 2009 at 2:09 pm :
I am glad you are listening Chelsea. Make sure your product kicks butt and users will follow.
20. February 2009 at 2:39 pm :
I use Mint as well. I once used Quicken. I made the switch with zero regrets. I simply found that Mint gives me a cross-platform, simple, easy-to-use, no-cost alternative to what was once a de-facto monopolist! No reason to give money to Intuit year after year for bug-fixes and useless features any more. Had they actually had a decent Mac product, they might have kept this customer.
Quicken should be concerned with how to win back Mint users, NOT getting into a pointless marketing exercise. I honestly don’t care how many new users they are getting a week. As far as I’m concerned, Intuit is in danger of becoming an also-ran! The fact hasn’t changed that Quicken is losing customers to Mint.
20. February 2009 at 3:37 pm :
@sean,
Thanks for your perspective. Quicken Online is a free, 100% Web-based financial service. We’ve still got great desktop products, but know that we’re talking about a free option here. Everyone needs different things for their financial lives though, so I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you.
@ethomaz,
You’re welcome. Thanks for your insight and for letting me express myself here.
- Chelsea, Quicken
20. February 2009 at 3:51 pm :
Since this is a lively thread (!), I’m curious if anyone has any reservations about putting their personal financial information onto external servers (which is required by Mint.com, right?). I’m a little paranoid and insist that our Quicken file be kept on an external hard drive that isn’t connected to the internet.
21. February 2009 at 8:37 am :
I think your concern is totally on point. It’s an interesting question. Here’s how I personally justify the possible risks involved:
1. I really want to use a good personal finance tool and the desktop ones haven’t worked for me. I find the online ones more compelling.
2. I have an account with Bank of America. It’s a big bank, but I don’t feel that my financial data is safer with them than with Mint. For example, there’s been many cases of data breach involving millions of credit cards from large institutions but not a single case with these online financial tools. Maybe it’s because they are smaller than the banks – lower profile – and don’t attract as much attention.
3. Mint is all about financial data. It’s a very well funded and successful startup, and they know that if they mess it up, they are dead. I feel they are more likely to lose sleep at night over my data’s security than my bank.
4. I’ve been doing my taxes online for the last few years. It’s easy and convenient. In my view, there’s probably more personally identifiable information associated with my taxes online than with my financial records.
5. I suffer a bit from the “it won’t happen to me” syndrome.
As I said, this is how I justify it, and I might be incorrect about these assumptions, but I can live with them today. But I can change my mind, of course. I do think about this security issue often.
3. March 2009 at 8:26 pm :
@Chelsea – I suggest you take a look at this site. Plenty of people are not happy about your products and talking about.
http://weallhatequickbooks.com/