QuickBooks New Online Version Integrates With PayPal, Square

Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting package—popular with small businesses—has cut deals with PayPal and Square in an attempt to boost its online offering, reports VentureBeat.

“QuickBooks Online hasn’t received much attention over the years. Launched in 2000, it only had 100,000 paid subscribers in 2009, compared to QuickBooks’ four million desktop subscribers. However, Intuit says at the end of last year they acquired a higher number of users online than on desktop — marking a shift in consumers. Now the company is rolling out all sorts of features to their online product,” the story said. “So far, Intuit’s app store hosts some 300 apps and allows for easy integration across mobile and Web platforms. The company is also giving developers a sandbox to test out new app ideas and allowing them to better integrate with its payment platform with a new payment API. It’s no wonder Intuit is make a dev-centric push. The company needs programmers to make cool apps for its software platform in order to stay relevant against its more developer-minded competition.”

Beyond supporting PayPal and Square for payment processing, the company is also offering—for the first time—Intuit’s own full-service payroll package.

“Much of the focus of its new line of accounting services is around automation. For instance, books are automatically updated when invoices are paid or deposits are made,” the story noted. “The company is also offering a new Self Employed package that helps separate personal and business finances by connecting directly to a person’s bank account — very similar to online budgeting tool Mint or Yodlee.”