Intuit is trying to boost its mobile money management capabilities and the company has just acquired the maker of the code behind the Apple iPhone app Cha-Ching.
On its website, the makers of the Apple iPhone app Cha-Ching confirm the deal.
The Cha-Ching team has merged with Intuit and will continue to provide you great design, useful features and incredible products as part of the Intuit Personal Finance Group.
Intuit didn’t say what it would do with the program but it could potentially be merged with the Mint Apple iPhone app for a robust mobile money management experience. We generally like the Mint app on iPhone and Android but do feel Intuit could take a few steps to improve it.
The move comes as the mobile money market is heating up, as PayPal recently said it will be bringing Bump technology to the latest version of its Android app. The company said it expects to generate more than $500 million in mobile payments over the course of the year.
Consumers could soon use their handsets for a lot of mobile money actions that go beyond the management aspects that Intuit offers, as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Discover will soon team up to bring mobile payments to the masses with Near-Field Communication technology. It will be a challenge to get a new fleet of NFC devices (or NFC tags for existing devices) but these companies have a huge channel of distribution.
[Update]
Just got word from Mint clarifying the deal and Aaron Patzer, VP of Intuit personal finance said:
“Technically, this was not an acquisition of a company; this was only an asset purchase – Intuit did not buy or merge with Midnight Apps. We did purchase the Cha Ching code and graphical assets from them, after the two developers who created the company joined the Intuit Personal Finance Group as employees earlier this year.
The code created by these two talented engineers in the years before they joined the Intuit Personal Finance Group has already begun to enhance our personal finance offerings. First, we’re using some of the visual assets and chrome to give Quicken Windows a facelift. Count on Quicken looking like a smooth, polished, modern desktop application when it releases this fall – along with additional influences deeper in the product’s architecture and function.
Second, we’ll use Cha Ching iPhone code for new features within the Mint iPhone app. There are some tricks they were using that will make some highly-sought new features very slick when they launch.”