LandWare Releases Pocket Quicken 2.5

LandWare today launched Pocket Quicken 2.5, a completely re-written version of the award-winning, easy to use personal money management application. Consumers can instantly mobilize their financial data with a single HotSync, enabling on-the-go access to account details, credit limits, transaction histories, exchange rates and more.

For the first time, Pocket Quicken presents a series of simple to answer profiling dialogs when the program is first run. The consumer is now able to have the program automatically configure itself to best suit their needs. This is the perfect complement to the customer who may have obtained their software over the web or wirelessly from a cellphone carrier's online store. If the consumer intends to use Pocket Quicken to sync with their desktop, then the program will function as a traditional handheld companion. Once connected to their desktop via cable, cradle or wirelessly via Bluetooth, Quicken owners simply HotSync to seamlessly transfer to and from Quicken.

Pocket Quicken can also act as the consumer's primary finance application because it can instantly set up a standard set of categories, currencies and accounts with a single button tap and begin to operate as their stand alone finance manager. Consumers can customize their category and class list by adding new ones, editing existing entries, or deleting the ones they know they will never use.

The new Pocket Quicken is like having an intelligent report generator with the consumer's complete financial details in their pocket. The new Quick Reports section can summarize transactions using any combination of amount, payee, category, class, memo, account and/or transaction attribute. Thus with just two taps the consumer can quickly check how many times they have filled up at the gas station this month or used their new credit card to rent movies at Blockbuster in the past 90 days. If an unfamiliar entry should is spotted - a single tap allows the consumer to view/edit the original transaction; and then once the transaction is reviewed and closed, the report is back on screen.

Pocket Quicken has greatly enhanced its ability to display financial account details. A single tap provides a new succinct report which summarizes financial activity, including current and ending balance, credit limit, account number and the primary contact – who can be dialed directly if the software is running on a smartphone. As with the previous versions of the software, there is no limit to the number of accounts the consumer can track or the length of historical transactions they wish to keep on their organizer.

When using foreign currencies, the program allows the customer to seamlessly record a hotel bill paid in Swiss Francs or gifts purchased in New Zealand dollars with an American credit card, while the program automatically takes care of the currency conversion. The program now allows the consumer to maintain an extensive editable list of currencies (including rates, symbols, shortcut keys, etc.) and a currency type can be set for each individual account.

Pocket Quicken 2.5 for Palm OS is available now. The product retails at $34.95, and special upgrading pricing is available for registered owners of Pocket Quicken 1.0 and 2.0. Consumers who have purchased Pocket Quicken 2.0 after January 1, 2005 qualify for a free upgrade to Pocket Quicken 2.5. Pocket Quicken 2.5 requires Palm OS 3.5 or later.

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Hmmm.....

vesther @ 5/2/2005 6:57:31 PM # Q
I downloaded and installed the program. Now I have to wait for instructions from LandWare, since I purchased Pocket Quicken 2.0 on February 2005.

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Pocket Quicken 2.5

ehanneken @ 5/3/2005 9:06:15 AM # Q
If the application has been "completely re-written," shouldn't it be version 3.0?

One of Pocket Quicken's appeals was that it didn't try to be a complete personal financial manager; it left that role to Quicken. Instead, it complemented Quicken by being with users where Quicken couldn't, allowing them to enter transactions on the spot and sync with Quicken later.

I suspect Landware's new direction is going to leave us with a program that is neither a good PFM (It could never compete with Quicken and the resources of a PC), nor a good PDA companion to a PFM (Too bloated). I wouldn't even consider upgrading, but 2.5 finally allows users to use the D-pad. I think Pocket Quicken 2.03 is the now the only program on my Tungsten T that forces me to pull out my stylus just to read information.


RE: Pocket Quicken 2.5
moofie @ 5/10/2005 3:05:27 AM # Q
Bloat is only bad when it interferes with the features I use. PQ2.5 seems to be just as quick, and much more readable, than the previous version.

That's my $.02, anyhow. I'll be glad to kick down a couple bucks for the upgrade...it's certainly saved me money just by helping me keep my financial house in order.

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Glad to see it

Quik_Fix @ 5/3/2005 12:36:20 PM # Q
I haven't tried the new version yet, but I've been using Pocket Quicken 2.03 for years now. Let me say that this has been a rock-solid application and one of the few Palm apps I've worked with that I can say without a doubt has NEVER crashed or errored in 3+ years of usage.

Most of the time, I use PQ exclusively for reference. I used to input spending with it on the spot-for which it is very useful and effective-until I realized that it was easier to just DL all my transactions off my banks website. I still occasionally log an expenditure for the hell of it.

I'm glad they're updating the software to make it more functional. I used a palm-exclusive money keeping for a while (Acccounts n Loans teamed with QuikBudget), so I know that there is a market for it, and I'm not going to say they're wrong for addressing that market.

*******
Flashback: 1999
Quik_Fix: (looking at IIIxe)So 8 megs is enough?
Salesman: Oh yeah. Believe me, you'll NEVER fill up 8 megs...
---
Visor-IIIxe-IIIc-H330-m130-m515-T665c-SJ33-T|3

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Good Stuff

joad @ 5/4/2005 1:59:44 AM # Q
I think I started out with Qmate somewhere in 1996-7-8... then went to Pocket Quicken and never looked back. This was probably 50% of why I bought and stayed with a Palm, and though updates are strangely paced, it's a rock-solid application with a good UI and very accurate. Every major upgrade has provided reason to open my wallet to Landware.

The upgrade from 2.03 (2.5 is a wierd call for such a huge jump... what are they saving the number 3.x for...?) was $14.95. As a previous reviewer mentioned, just having some support for the 4-way toggle was worth the money. FYI- the support is there, but not as intuitive or inclusive as you would expect. Also, adding a "new" transaction has changed, and maybe I'm just stuck in my ways but it seems more troublesome to add a transaction.

On the plus, now you can finally view split memo fields, the number area in the splits defaults to numbers not letters on the Treo, many more view options, improved security, and it probably looks even better on a Treo 650 (or my new pending Treo 700).

I commend Landware for a very fair $14.95 upgrade price on this. If more Palm software vendors made such sweeping improvements and priced the upgrade to their existing licencees similarly, there'd be a lot less warez kiddies floating around. There is definitely increased value for the money asked here.

The next Palm developer that wonders why so few people bit on their yearly $20-$40 "upgrade" of little consequence might take a page from Landware's Pocket Quicken business model. $14.95 from tens of thousands of people beats $34.95 from 27 yearly repeat suckers.

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