Intuit Opens Indian Development Center, Releases Quicken 2006

Intuit will set up a development center in the outsourcing hotbed of Bangalore, India, company representatives said Friday, joining other U.S. firms such as Microsoft with engineering facilities in the city.

The new Bangalore center will work on both new products and collaborate with North American developers on existing products and services, the company's manager for India, Nilesh Thakker, told reporters in India on Friday.

"India's talent pool is world-class," Thakker said to reporters. "We will draw upon India's rich experience in quality processes as we expand our services and continue to create products that solve customer problems."

The Mountain View, Calif.-based maker of personal finance, small business accounting, and tax preparation software currently has facilities in Canada and Great Britain.

Earlier in the week, Intuit updated its flagship Quicken personal financial manager to a 2006 edition.

Quicken 2006 for Windows, which sells in four versions for between $29.95 and $89.95, boasts new instant pop-up reports that appear in the checking account register to show such things as what bills have been paid when, how money was spent, and how current spending compares to previous patterns.

Also new in 2006, said Intuit, is the ability to attach documents and files -- such as PDF images of checks provided by many banks -- to Quicken's transactions.

"The real value of attaching images in Quicken becomes clear during an IRS audit," said Peter Karpas, the manager of the Quicken group, in a statement. "You'll need copies of charitable contribution checks, and other records going back as far as three years."

Many banks, however, pull electronic copies of checks after three to six months.

A Macintosh edition of Quicken 2006 was also launched this week at a price point of $69.95.