Update: Intuit to carry Google offerings in QuickBooks

Intuit Inc. will integrate into QuickBooks 2007 various search and marketing services from Google Inc., a move intended to help small business users of the Intuit accounting software promote themselves online.

QuickBooks 2007, due in the fourth quarter, will contain shortcuts and links to Google’s AdWords advertising program, Maps Web site and Base product listing service, the companies announced Wednesday.

The partnership is likely to grow in scope, because the companies have other unexplored but logical product-integration possibilities, the chief executive officers of Google and Intuit said in a conference call.

For example, Intuit’s Quicken family of financial management applications isn’t part of the agreement now but could be incorporated into it. Google’s Checkout online payment service and AdSense affiliate ad network could be, too, they said.

“We’re just getting started,” said Steve Bennett, Intuit’s president and CEO. His Google counterpart, Eric Schmidt, characterized the agreement as the beginning of what will probably become a much deeper connection.

The deal opens up a broad distribution pipe for Google’s offerings to the small business market: There are about 3.7 million active QuickBooks customers. If Quicken were added to the agreement, it could lead Google to the more than 2 million companies that use that software even though it is designed for personal finance.

Meanwhile, Intuit expects the Google products to boost demand for QuickBooks 2007. Google and Intuit will share revenue from the partnership.

QuickBooks 2007 customers will get US$50 in credits for AdWords, Google’s massive search-based, pay-per-click advertising program, the driver of most of Google’s revenue.

The AdWords integration will include pre-population of the customer’s information, to eliminate the need for re-typing, as well as the ability to set up and manage AdWords campaigns from the QuickBooks interface.

Meanwhile, QuickBooks 2007 will link to Google Maps, where users can create a business listing that will be mapped on the Web site. This is a free listing.

Google will also set up and host a Web page with basic contact and business information for companies that lack a Web site. This way, they will have a “landing” page for their AdWords ads and Maps listing. However, any company can obtain the free Maps listing and the free Web page today without being a QuickBooks 2007 customer, a Google spokeswoman said.

With technology from StepUp Commerce Inc., which Intuit acquired, QuickBooks 2007 will automate the process of feeding product-listing information to Google Base. This will be offered for free during its initial beta period.

QuickBooks 2007 will also come with the Google Desktop application for indexing and searching PC hard drives. Google Desktop is free of charge to everyone, but the version packaged with Intuit will have tighter integration with QuickBooks 2007 than does the regular Google Desktop. The Google products and services will be featured in a variety of QuickBooks 2007 versions.

The move is Google’s latest to bundle and integrate its products and services into third-party applications and hardware devices.

This partnership with Intuit also opens up another front in the wide-ranging and rabid battle between Google and Microsoft Corp., as each vendor moves aggressively into the other’s core markets.

Google, a leader in Web search, has been moving into office productivity software and Web portal services, Microsoft’s core markets. Meanwhile, Microsoft is trying to encroach on Google’s Web search turf.

Microsoft is also an Intuit enemy in the market for small business accounting software.