I'm the new product manager for Quicken Mac and I'd like to provide some background and answers to questions many of you have.
1) Why don't you just improve Quicken Mac 2007 - Quicken 2007 was built before Mac OS X and is based on Mac technology that Apple no longer supports such as QuickTime. If you're a software developer you'll know that building on top of a code base that is that ancient is nearly impossible and fruitless so we can't just pick up from where that product left off.
2) Why does Quicken Essentials suck? - Quicken Essentials was a complete rewrite of Quicken from the ground up that uses the latest Mac technology and was to be used as a platform for future Quicken Mac development. It's difficult to rebuild all of the functionality that was in the original Quicken overnight and so the Essentials product was born and was supposed to be for first-time or basic users. It was never designed and should never have been marketed as a replacement for Quicken 2007. The goal was to continue to build on this version until it had the depth of what long time Quicken users expected. I would also argue that it didn't really "suck" but instead lacked the feature set that many Quicken users wanted and expected and kind of got a bum rap.
3) Why doesn't Intuit just release a product that is equivalent to Quicken Windows on the Mac? Does Intuit hate the Mac? - Building a product from scratch that has the functionality of a 30 year old product in a few years is impossible. After Quicken Essentials was released and Mint was purchased, Intuit decided to kill Quicken Essentials because the Mac market was small and shrinking and all development was stopped. Companies don't do things out of spite. Management at the time looked at the numbers and the Mac desktop market didn't look that promising compared to the opportunity that the web-based Mint offered. This is why the functionality of Quicken for Mac is so far behind. No work was done for 3+ years.
The reality is the Mac market changed over that time. Quicken sales continued to be strong and after Apple released the iPhone, Mac sales started to sky rocket. In the Summer of 2012 we were given the go ahead to create a team and to start working on Quicken for Mac again but by then all the original Quicken Essentials developers had left and there was a lot of knowledge lost. The team had to be rebuilt and everything had to be re-learned. This takes time. This effort eventually became Quicken for Mac 2015. The goals for 2015 were to modernize the app to appeal to new users, focus on mobile and add investment functionality that would separate it from Mint and begin to add back the functionality that loyal Quicken users wanted. We were also able to convince management to change the way revenue was accounted for and to adopt a subscription model which in turn allowed us to continue adding features through out the year to speed legacy feature delivery. This is why features like Bill Reminders, Calendar View, and Net Worth reports were added after the original 2015 product was released for free to customers. Of course, the team is building everything from scratch so it takes time. Despite the many negative things said about Quicken for Mac 2015 it was an unmitigated financial success.
Quicken for Mac 2016 was released last Summer and added bank bill pay and the team continues to work on more legacy features for 2016 customers. The current Quicken for Mac team is very passionate about building a great product and to deliver the functionality long time loyal Quicken users want. We're working hard to add back all the features the previous versions have but it takes time and quite frankly we don't want to necessarily add it back in the exact same way it appeared in the legacy products even though I know many of you would prefer that. The reason is that the new Quicken Mac has to meet the personal finance needs of customers today who bank in a lot different way than they did 30 years ago. For example, people don't write checks very much any more. Quicken needs to continue to attract new users including millennials or the product won't grow, sales will stall and if that happens the product will be put back into a precarious position. We have to build a modern personal finance product and not a clone of an old one.
4) Is this private equity purchase good for customers? - Absolutely. Quicken was a small business for Intuit compared to QuickBooks and TurboTax and would never get the attention it needed. The new Quicken company that is being spun out will care only about one thing: Quicken. Mac customers are already benefiting from this focus. The plan is to ramp up hiring of Mac developers to speed delivery of legacy functionality. Our CEO believes in the business and our new mission so much that he personally invested in the new company.
It makes sense to shop around and to look at alternatives. I'm not trying to persuade you to give Quicken Mac another chance but I simply wanted to provide some history, context and the current state of the product. Hopefully this answers some of your questions. If you are interested in sticking with Quicken Mac, I highly encourage you to engage with us directly and be a part of the Quicken community working together to design future versions of Quicken Mac.
