Quicken customers have reported receiving e-mails from Intuit promising a new effort to winning back disaffected Mac users, announcing a new solution to make Quicken 2007 Lion-compatible that will be delivered by “early spring” and saying that the company is expanding its Mac development team to better support Mac users, AppleInsider reports. Quicken 2007 worked in Snow Leopard but was not compatible with Lion.
The note, from Intuit Personal Finance Group General Manager Aaron Forth, acknowledged that the company has “not always delivered” on its promise to “deliver the best products” to Mac customers, and that the lack of full support has caused frustration among its customer base. The “re-engineered” Quicken 2007 for Lion will be able to automatically use existing Quicken 2007 files in Snow Leopard, allowing those users to finally upgrade to Lion, and will also let customers who are using the existing Quicken Essentials (the company’s only Lion-compatible product) to migrate their data into the updated Quicken 2007.
Forth characterized the solution as “just a first step” in winning back disaffected Mac customers and that he understands “we have a way to go” in addressing inequities between Mac and Windows platforms. Intuit released the stripped-down Quicken Essentialsin mid 2010 that removed a number of features normally found in Quicken, such as bill paying and detailed investment tracking. While many customers eventually moved to Quicken Essentials, it was seen as a downgrade that forced some customers to adopt alternatives such as iBank or Moneydance.
The e-mail does not offer many specifics, though there is a small FAQ on the company’s support website where users can opt to be notified of any new developments. There is no word yet on whether the updated Quicken 2007 will support non-US users.
