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Reversal of Fortune (5/5/98)
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As for today's big announcement, that would have to be the joint press release issued by Apple and Intuit, indicating that Quicken is back for the Mac. In a reversal of its decision made public a couple of weeks ago, Intuit now says that it will in fact develop Quicken 99 for the Macintosh platform, and in addition, Apple and Intuit will work together to "develop new personal finance opportunities for Macintosh users on the web." Mac users who actually keep personal financial records (ahem) can look forward to new releases of Quicken and continued support for years to come. It's definitely good news for the Mac as a viable consumer computing platform.
Intuit states that their decision to revive Quicken development for the Mac was due to their having been shown Apple's "upcoming consumer products and strategies." We could certainly understand their original stance; since Quicken is a consumer product, if Apple was only going to focus on holding its strong presence in the education and content creation markets while letting consumer market share go up in smoke, it wouldn't make much sense for Intuit to keep sinking development resources into Mac Quicken. We're glad to see that they've returned to the fold.
Interestingly enough, the press release didn't mention any sort of bundling arrangement wherein Apple would pay to preinstall Quicken on every Mac. It was widely surmised that such a bundling agreement would be necessary in order for Apple to convince Intuit that further Mac development would be profitable. Apparently Apple managed to persuade Intuit purely on the strength of their upcoming consumer market plans-- that, and, of course, the awesome power of the patented Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field.™ Hey, don't knock it-- it works.
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 5/5/98 episode: May 5, 1998: Apple still knows how to play the suspense game, as the Mac-using world waits and wonders what's on the agenda for tomorrow's big event. Meanwhile, Intuit is wooed back to the Mac platform by the irresistible charms of Steve Jobs and Apple's upcoming consumer plans, and a couple of ex-cast members are now playing bit parts in Microsoft's grand epic...
Other scenes from that episode: 676: What Did Barnum Say? (5/5/98) So tomorrow's the big day-- or at least Apple would certainly like us to think so. Several faithful viewers contacted us to point out that Apple's entire web site (with the exception of the Support site) was replaced by a single teaser ad... 678: Mass Assimilation (5/5/98) Today we came across not one, but two stories about ex-Apple execs who are currently siding with Microsoft on various topics. They serve as a great reminder about the ubiquity of the Redmond Giant in the industry. First there's the more disappointing fact: Heidi Roizen, who used to head up Apple's developer relations organization, is now spending a few days a month as a consultant for Microsoft, acting as an "ambassador" to Silicon Valley's "Microsoft-phobic tech community," according to the San Jose Mercury News...
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