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MYOB fills the QuickBooks void
(IDG) -- Intuit may be ignoring Mac users in the retail and Internet versions of its small-business accounting software, but MYOB executive director Christopher Lee said Mac users should forget about QuickBooks and look to his company's new AccountEdge software. MYOB AccountEdge, a new $249 business management package, isn't a Web-based product like the recently introduced QuickBooks for the Web, but it is a Mac alternative to QuickBooks 4.0. AccountEdge, though, is more "Mac-like" because it's developed specifically for the Mac OS, Lee said. AccountEdge tracks jobs, automatically interfaces with Microsoft Office and handles all the tasks performed by MYOB Accounting, such as sales management, time billing, inventory and payroll. And, it offers "seamless" data upgrade from QuickBooks, Lee said.
Support for the Mac"Intuit made their bed five years ago when they said they wouldn't be updating QuickBooks for the Mac," Lee said. "Now they're doing the same with QuickBooks for the Web. Obviously, they don't consider the Mac experience as important, but we do. Those who like the Mac platform should check us out." Lee claimed that MYOB AccountEdge, developed specifically to fill the void left by Intuit, is the most viable accounting and financial management product for the Mac. MYOB went out of its way to make it very simple, to dramatically update the interface and to better use the Mac OS, Lee said. Of course, some folks might say it's risky developing such a Mac-specific product. "There's no question that the Mac is a niche player right now," Lee said. "But MYOB isn't a broad-based consumer company, so we can be more effective targeting niches than spending $40-$50 million on marketing. Intuit is a consumer marketing company and is trying to be everything to everybody. Our mission is to increase customers' efficiency and profitability. That may be a niche business in a niche market, but we think we fit in real well with the Mac." Waiting for OS XLee, who is also current interim general manager of MYOB US, thinks that this "niche" will get bigger with the upcoming Mac OS X. AccountEdge is available now for Mac OS 8.6 and 9 and a free update will be available when OS X ships. Lee believes that Apple will concentrate more on the business market in the months ahead. Plus, he said that OS X will offer the power and flexibility to bring new business apps -- such as customer-relations and workflow management products -- to the Mac. "I wouldn't say that Mac OS X is a make or break product for Apple, but it's close," Lee said. "But it can move Apple into spaces where it's not been, or been strong, before. At MYOB, we look at our job as being translators: translating the language of business into the language of accounting. We need to use tools given to us by the authors of operating systems. The Mac side and OS X gives us a tool set that lets us do our jobs as translators better than any other tool set on the planet. It's up to us to use those tools to move up to the next level." RELATED STORIES: Losses at Apple, but new products coming RELATED IDG.net STORIES: Making OS X more familiar RELATED SITES: MYOB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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