Quicken Online--a stripped-down Web-based version of Quicken that will primarily download banking transactions and automatically categorize them so users can identify where their money disappears
to--hopes to attract twenty- to thirtysomethings who live paycheck to paycheck.
Intuit is charging $2.99 a month for the new subscription service. The software Goliath's move is
rumbling through a competitive territory populated by start-ups such as Mint.com, Wesabe and Geezeowhich have already have devised eye-catching tools that combine colorful Quicken-like pie charts with
elements of social networking and cell phone alerts--but for free.
The choices for consumers will get better when mighty banks invade the market--and add the ability to transfer money
among accounts, predicts Emmett Higdon, a senior analyst with Forrester Research. Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others recently began targeting young consumers with banking services through their
cell phones.
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