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Intuit gets into SaaS

Besides Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc., no software vendor is in a position to be more threatened by the increasing popularity of Software-as-a-Service than Intuit Systems Inc.

Besides Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc., no software vendor is in a position to be more threatened by the increasing popularity of Software-as-a-Service than Intuit Systems Inc.

The Mountain View, Calif. company had $2.3 billion in sales in 2006, its most recent fiscal year — virtually all of it from sales of desktop software.

Since then, however, Intuit has gotten the SaaS religion. Last November, Intuit paid $1.35 billion to acquire Digital Insight Inc., an online banking service provider.

Last week, Intuit said it plans to release an online version of its personal finance software, Quicken. The company is currently signing up beta users.

That will complement Intuit’s QuickBooks Online Edition, a Web-hosted version of its small business accounting software.