Intuit revamps Quickbooks Online for ease of use, mobile devices

Users of the online version of Intuit's popular QuickBooks small-business accounting software may find their workdays becoming a bit easier to manage, thanks to a new user interface and mobile application support.

Intuit has completed a "complete relaunch and rebuild" of QuickBooks Online's look and feel, said Daniel Wernikoff, senior vice president and general manager of small business financial solutions.

QuickBooks has about 4.5 million users around the world, with 500,000 using the online edition and the rest running the desktop version, Wernikoff said.

Intuit launched the online product about 10 years ago but only started getting serious traction for it recently. "What we saw with customers is they weren't ready for online then," he said.

But the momentum has shifted radically in the other direction. While three or four years ago only about 5 percent of new customers were choosing the online version, Intuit expects online to account for more than half of new purchases by the end of the year, Wernikoff said.

The uptick is likely being boosted by new features introduced last year that allowed the online version to be configured to support a wide variety of tax regulations and languages. As a result, QuickBooks Online is now being used by customers in more than 100 countries.

The update announced Monday seems to bring QuickBooks beyond pure accounting and into the realm of CRM (customer relationship management).

New mobile applications for iOS and Android devices allow users to pull up data while in the field, such as the complete financial history of dealings with a particular customer. Transactions conducted through the mobile applications get synchronized back to the customer's QuickBooks Online account.

Also on tap in the new release is better integration for the online product with third-party applications. "The problem has been that when we visit small businesses, most are using 10 applications and most of them aren't provided by us," Wernikoff said.

Intuit has also tried to make it easier for less computer-savvy business owners to get started quickly with the application.

When a new customer logs into QuickBooks Online for the first time, they are presented with a wizard-like interface that asks them questions about the industry they're in, how they prefer to be paid and other matters. The application's look and feel is automatically configured, based on those responses and on the way customers in similar industries have set up their systems.

As QuickBooks Online grows more popular, the user base may end up including more and more customers who once used the desktop version. Intuit's sunset policy, which essentially forces customers to repurchase the software every few years unless they don't want support or the use of add-on extensions, is a long-standing gripe among QuickBooks users.

"All desktop companies have a sunset policy," Wernikoff said. However, he acknowledged Intuit has a "good chunk of desktop customers who get frustrated by that requirement."

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for the IDG News Service.
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Steve Ballmer on Microsoft's Nokia Devices & Services buy

Editor’s Note: On Monday evening, Microsoft announced it was buying Nokia’s Devices & Services division, giving Redmond an in-house hardware arm for its Windows Phone platform. Here’s the letter CEO Steve Ballmer sent to Microsoft employees announcing the move.

We announced some exciting news today: We have entered into an agreement to purchase Nokia’s Devices & Services business, which includes their smartphone and mobile phone businesses, their award-winning design team, manufacturing and assembly facilities around the world, and teams devoted to operations, sales, marketing and support.

For Microsoft, this is a bold step into the future and the next big phase of the transformation we announced on July 11.

We are very excited about the proposal to bring the best mobile device efforts of Microsoft and Nokia together. Our Windows Phone partnership over the past two and half years has yielded incredible work - the stunning Lumia 1020 is a great example. Our partnership has also yielded incredible growth. In fact, Nokia Windows Phones are the fastest-growing phones in the smartphone market.

Now is the time to build on this momentum and accelerate our share and profits in phones. Clearly, greater success with phones will strengthen the overall opportunity for us and our partners to deliver on our strategy to create a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most.

We have laid out Microsoft’s strategic rationale for this transaction in a presentation that I encourage you to read.

This is a smart acquisition for Microsoft, and a good deal for both companies. We are receiving incredible talent, technology and IP. We’ve all seen the amazing work that Nokia and Microsoft have done together.

Given our long partnership with Nokia and the many key Nokia leaders that are joining Microsoft, we expect a smooth transition and great execution.

As is always the case with an acquisition, the first priority is to keep driving through close, which we expect in the first quarter of 2014, following approval by Nokia’s shareholders, regulatory approvals, and other closing conditions.

But I also know people will have some questions about what happens post-close. While details aren’t final, here is what we know, and how we’re generally approaching integration:

Stephen Elop will be coming back to Microsoft, and he will lead an expanded Devices team, which includes all of our current Devices and Studios work and most of the teams coming over from Nokia, reporting to me.Julie Larson-Green will continue to run the Devices and Studios team, and will be focused on the big launches this fall including Xbox One and our Surface enhancements. Julie will be joining Stephen’s team once the acquisition closes, and will work with him to shape the new organization.As part of the acquisition, a number of key engineering leaders will be joining Microsoft from Nokia, reporting to Stephen in his new capacity:
• Jo Harlow, who will continue to lead the Smart Devices team
• Timo Toikkanen, who will continue to lead the Mobile Phones team
• Stefan Pannenbecker, who will lead Design
• Juha Putkiranta, who will lead the integration effort on Nokia’s behalfRegarding the sales team, we plan to keep the Nokia field team, led by Chris Weber, intact and as the nexus of the devices sales effort, so that we can continue to build sales momentum. After the deal closes, Chris and his team will be placed under Kevin Turner. We will develop a single integrated team that is selling to operators, and there may be other integration opportunities that we can pursue. Kevin will work with Chris Weber and Chris Capossela to make those plans.Our operating system team under Terry Myerson will continue unchanged, with a mission of supporting both first-party and third-party hardware innovation. We are committed to working with partners, helping them build great products and great businesses on our platform, and we believe this deal will increase our partner value proposition over time. The established rhythms and ways of working between Terry and his team and the incoming Nokia team will serve us well to ensure that we do not disrupt our building momentum.We are planning to integrate all global marketing under Tami Reller and Mark Penn. It is very important that we pursue a unified brand and advertising strategy as soon as possible.Finance, Legal, HR, Communications, DX / Evangelism, Customer Care and Business Development will integrate functionally at Microsoft. Sourcing, customer logistics and supply chain will be part of Stephen’s Devices organization. ICM / IT will also integrate functionally for traditional IT roles. We will need to work through the implications for factory systems given the differing manufacturing processes and systems at both Nokia and Microsoft.We plan to pursue a single set of supporting services for our devices, and we will figure out how to combine the great Nokia efforts into our Microsoft services as we go through the integration process.There are no significant plans to shift where work is done in the world as we integrate, so we expect the Nokia teams to stay largely in place, geographically.Tom Gibbons will lead the integration work for Microsoft.

While today’s announcement is big news, we have to stay heavily focused on running the current business. We have a huge fall and holiday season ahead of us, so we need to execute flawlessly and continue to drive our business forward. I have no doubt we will.

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Microsoft to acquire Nokia's devices business for $7.17 billion

Microsoft announced Monday night that it will purchase Nokia’s devices business in a deal that will bring the Lumia smartphone line—along with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop—under the Microsoft umbrella.

The deal has been valued at 5.44 million euro ($7.17 billion), wth 1.65 billion euro of that going to license Nokia’s patents. Microsoft will also provide Nokia an additional 1.5 million euro ($1.98 billion) in convertible notes that Nokia can exercise. Microsoft isn’t buying Nokia as a whole, as the Nokia Siemens Networks enterprise business, Nokia’s HERE brand, the office of the CTO, and Nokia’s patent portfolio are not direct components of the deal.

”One brand, united voice,” Microsoft said in a presentation packet explaining the deal.

The synergies of the aquisition are obvious. Elop led the Microsoft Business Division until 2010, at which point he became Nokia’s chief executive, forging deep ties with Microsoft, and almost totally committing his company to the Windows Phone platform. Elop will lead “an expanded Devices business” at Microsoft, the company said, and will report directly to soon-to-be-departing CEO Steve Ballmer. Julie Larson-Green, who currently leads the Devices and Studios business (which includes the Xbox One and Surface tablets) will report to Elop after the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.

The most important piece of the puzzle is Nokia’s phone business, including the Lumia brand. Nokia sold 7.4 million Lumia phones in the second quarter of 2013, and 53.7 million units overall. For now, Microsoft said that it would license the Nokia brand and use it with current Nokia phone products. Lumia, presumably, will fall under the Microsoft brand name.

”One brand, united voice,” Microsoft said in a presentation packet explaining the deal.

image: michael homnickThe Lumia 1020 and its stablemates are destined for Microsoft ownership.

Of course, the deal is a slap in the face to HTC (among other handset makers), which must now assume it will play permanent second fiddle to Nokia in the Windows Phone smartphone game. Indeed, the HTC 8X was a key hardware element of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 launch, but overall the Lumia name has become synonymous with Windows Phone. Overall, Windows Phone ranks third among smartphone platforms, with a tiny 3.2 percent in May.

Nevertheless, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, who roiled the waters when he unexpectedly said he would step down within a year’s time, painted the deal as a positive for the company.

“It’s a bold step into the future – a win-win for employees, shareholders and consumers of both companies,” Ballmer said in a statement. “Bringing these great teams together will accelerate Microsoft’s share and profits in phones, and strengthen the overall opportunities for both Microsoft and our partners across our entire family of devices and services. In addition to their innovation and strength in phones at all price points, Nokia brings proven capability and talent in critical areas such as hardware design and engineering, supply chain and manufacturing management, and hardware sales, marketing and distribution.”

All told, approximately 32,000 Nokia employees are expected to transfer to Microsoft, including 4,700 people in Finland and 18,300 employees directly involved in manufacturing, assembly and packaging of products worldwide, Nokia said.

“For Nokia, this is an important moment of reinvention and from a position of financial strength, we can build our next chapter,” said Risto Siilasmaa, Chairman of the Nokia Board of Directors and, following today’s announcement, Nokia Interim CEO. “After a thorough assessment of how to maximize shareholder value, including consideration of a variety of alternatives, we believe this transaction is the best path forward for Nokia and its shareholders.”

Microsoft has not been the only OS company to buy its way into the hardware market— Google bought Motorola in 2011 for about $40.5 billion, a deal suspected to be as much for Motorola’s enormous patent portfolio as for its hardware business. That much, at least, seems to be true: Motorola hadn’t released a phone until its update to the Droid line this summer, as well as the Moto X.

But with Nokia, Microsoft also gains a long-term patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm, as well as other licensing agreements. Nokia will retain its patent portfolio and will grant Microsoft a 10-year license to its patents at the time of the deal closing. Microsoft will grant Nokia reciprocal rights to use Microsoft patents in its HERE services. In addition, Nokia will grant Microsoft an option to extend this mutual patent agreement in perpetuity, the company said. Microsoft will become a strategic licensee of the HERE platform, and will separately pay Nokia for a four-year license.

Microsoft said that it will continue to support the iPhone and Android platforms, but that it “cannot risk having Google or Apple foreclose app innovation, integration, distribution, or economics”.

”This is a smart acquisition for Microsoft, and a good deal for both companies,” Ballmer wrote in a note to employees. “We are receiving incredible talent, technology and IP. We’ve all seen the amazing work that Nokia and Microsoft have done together.  Given our long partnership with Nokia and the many key Nokia leaders that are joining Microsoft, we expect a smooth transition and great execution.”

Microsoft plans to hold a conference call Tuesday morning to explain the deal to Wall Street analysts.

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Dorm room entertainment: Build a killer system with just two devices

Dorm rooms are tiny, but that won’t stop you from having friends over after a long day of classes. But while you might be fine with watching a movie on your laptop, its screen is too small for a group of people—and with your limited space (and college student budget), you can’t really splurge on a tricked-out entertainment system either.

You can, however, create your own basic setup with two key devices: a high-quality display and an awesome set of speakers.

Instead of a TV, consider picking something a little more versatile, like an all-in-one PC or an HDTV monitor. The 27-inch Samsung LT27B750NDX/ZA ($550) is an HDTV monitor with a built-in TV tuner, so you can use it as a spare monitor for your laptop and for watching TV. The tuner supports your dorm’s cable network, and you can access myriad web apps from the display’s home screen—it includes streaming staples like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora. Videos look sharp on its 1080p resolution display.

This Samsung is a two-in-one HDTV and computer monitor.

Because it’s Wi-Fi enabled, you can stream content from the monitor’s apps without needing your laptop hooked up. And thanks to the USB jacks on its side, you can connect your mouse and keyboard and browse the Internet through its built-in browser.

When choosing your speakers, take your budget and your needs into consideration. If you have a couple of different devices that play music, a Bluetooth speaker set is the way to go. Consider Brookstone’s Big Blue Studio ($150), which easily pairs with any Bluetooth-ready device, like your laptop, smartphone, or tablet—just hold down its big blue button to activate syncing mode. The Studio lasts about four straight hours on its battery, but you can also use it plugged in. With two front-facing full-range speaker drivers, a down-firing woofer, and a passive radiator, the Big Blue Studio sounds phenomenal, and doesn’t take up too much shelf space.

The Big Blue Studio pairs with any Bluetooth device.

For a speaker dock made for the Apple family, Bowers & Wilikin’s Z2 ($400) is hard to beat. This speaker features a Lightening-connector dock (for the iPhone 5 and latest generation of iPods) and AirPlay wireless streaming, so you can hook your iPhone up or stream music wirelessly. The dock holds the iPhone 5 securely in place, so you don’t have to worry about it coming lose if someone bumps the Z2 during a party. Under the hood, the Z2 packs dual full-range drivers and a pair of 20-watt amplifiers, which ensure exceptional clarity no matter what type of music you’re listening to. It even has a remote, which is especially handy for killing the noise in a pinch if your floor’s Resident Assistant comes knocking.

B&W’s Z2 is the perfect Apple companion.

If you want something showy, portable, and long-lasting, TDK’s Life on Record Wireless Boombox ($350) is a great option. It has the look and feel of an old-school boom box, but is far from that. To play a song, you can plug in your smartphone or iPod directly through its USB port, or beam it wirelessly via Bluetooth. The Boombox has an auxiliary input for other devices, too, and can even support some instruments. It boasts six hours of continuous play on its battery, which is solid considering its size. Inside, it houses two full-range drivers, two passive radiators, and one subwoofer, and you can adjust its bass and treble equalization for the best sound possible. Its final feature is an FM radio tuner, because no true boom box should be without it.

Macworld.auThe flashy Life on Record Wireless Boombox begs to be seen.

With just two devices, you can create a killer mini-entertainment mecca for you and your friends. Now, throw a welcoming bash for your floormates to show off your new gear. Who can respect your dorm’s quiet hours with a setup like this?

Leah started out as a PCWorld columnist before Macworld scooped her up as an assistant editor. Now, she happily writes features and covers iOS apps, smartphone cases, gadget bags, and social media trends across all three of our sites.
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Confidential data is leaving on workers' mobile devices

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Seamlessly sync your data across devices

Work isn’t anchored to one device or one location. In a typical day, you can go from working on a multimonitor desktop rig in the office to a laptop at a client site to a desktop at home, working in sips on a tablet or smartphone in between.

This unfettered mobility means its more critical than ever that you’re able to access important files across devices, platforms and apps. Follow these tips for keeping all your data in sync, so you can keep doing business wherever your business takes you.

One of the more frustrating experiences of switching between multiple devices is the interruption to your Web browsing experience. Fortunately, popular browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox offer built-in support for automatically syncing bookmarks, history, open tabs and even passwords.

When you sign in to Chrome, your browser settings are saved to your Google account to be used by the Chrome browser on any other computer or device. To choose what settings get synced, sign in to Chrome—you will be prompted for your verification code if you have 2-factor authentication enabled—and follow the prompts to to either “sync everything” or select individual items.

Signing in to Chrome allows you to save your browser settings to your Google account.

Syncing Firefox settings requires a bit more work. Because all data is encrypted prior to being uploaded to Mozilla’s servers, a pairing process is required to synchronize the encryption key with each device you want to sync.

In the Firefox menu bar on your main computer, click Tools and select Set Up Sync. The first time you do this, you’ll need to create an account with the Firefox sync server. Once you complete this setup, go to the Sync tab of the Options dialog box. Click on “pair a device,” which will brings up a dialog box with three empty text fields. Do the same on your other device, but select “I have an account” when prompted instead. This will display an "easy setup" key that you need to put into the empty text boxes to get the second device verified and linked up. The process is the same for Firefox for Android. You can read more about the process on the Firefox support page.

Firefox requires you to pair each of your devices to a Firefox Sync account using an "easy setup" key.

Not so long ago, it was necessary to shuttle documents between computers on thumb drives or other external storage. Fortunately, we now have cloud services such as Dropbox, SugarSync, Mozy and Box to store our files for easy access from any Web-connected device.

A frequent mistake when using cloud storage is neglecting to save newly created files in synchronized folders. Depending on your cloud service, it may be possible to synchronize the entire desktop or default document folders to prevent this. An alternative is to discipline yourself to create all new documents in a synchronized “catchall” folder – you can always file them into a more appropriate subfolder at a later stage.

Chances are your email is either already accessible from multiple devices through the default system on your platform or from a Web interface. But if your email system uses only POP (Post Office Protocol), in which emails are downloaded and erased from the server, it’s time to switch to a modern cloud-enabled system or one with IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol).

These two options work similarly in that they allow you to see the same messages and folders from multiple devices. IMAP does not keep contacts or calendars synchronized. Cloud-based systems such as Exchange Online in Office 365 offers Contacts and Calendar sync via the Exchange Active Sync (EAS) standard; Google Mail and Yahoo Mail do so with their support of the open CalDAV and CardDAV specifications respectively.

Most Instant Messaging (IM) services have clients available for all the major platforms. Things get trickier, though, if you juggle between two or more IM applications. There are a number of third-party chat clients that offer support for multiple IM services, with Digsby, Trillian and Pidgin being some popular options. Trillian offers a “continuous chat” feature that syncs conversations across all your devices. This makes it possible to switch from a desktop to a smartphone without missing a word.

Trillian syncs chats across all your devices so you can pick up conversations right where you left off.

Finally, you’ll want to make sure that your notes, ideas and other scraps of digital info are properly synchronized. There are several solutions available, ranging from text-only solutions such as SimpleNote to more comprehensive options such as Evernote and Microsoft’s OneNote. Not all platforms are supported by each of these—SimpleNote, for example, is not available on the BlackBerry 10—so do your research before you commit to a service.

Paul has a lifelong affinity for checking out all sorts of tech gadgets, enterprise gear, and everything in between. With half a decade in the IT industry under his belt, He is especially interested in how technology can be practically leveraged to help businesses do more.
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