Intuit UK is canning its popular accounting software Quicken and TaxCalc.

A letter sent to Quicken customers warns that the product will not be on sale after the end of this month. Intuit UK will continue to offer telephone support until the end of January next year. A final UK version of Quicken is included with the letter, but development will continue in the US and Canada.

Users who contacted The Register expressed surprise and disappointment at the news. Intuit is offering Quicken customers a £70 discount on its QuickBooks 2005 product. The company said it was "absolutely committed to assisting our customers through the transition".

In astatement Intuit said that after a review of UK operations: "we have come to the conclusion that our attention needs to be focused on the businesses/products with the biggest opportunity for sustaining growth over the long term. As a result, we’ve decided to focus all of our resources on the small business segment, where our QuickBooks product and related services have earned the confidence of customers and the strong support of the accounting community."

A spokesman said some jobs could be affected but consultations are still going on. ®

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