ActiveBuddy Announces BuddyScript Software Development Kit Compatibility with Intuit's QuickBooks SDK

Business Wire, Dec 9, 2002

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2002

Developers Can Now Create a Conversational Front-End to their

QuickBooks-compatible Applications

ActiveBuddy, Inc., the messaging industry's leading provider of interactive agent technology, today demonstrated support for Intuit's QuickBooks(R) software development kit (SDK). Third-party developers who utilize the QuickBooks SDK can now incorporate a messaging-based front end to their applications, delivering to their users the ability to query and update QuickBooks-resident data via wireless messaging.

ActiveBuddy technology allows developers to create and deploy interactive agents - such as the company's popular demonstration agent, SmarterChild, which interacted with over 9 million messaging users last year - across all platforms that support interactive text messaging. Interactive agents are software applications, often called "bots," that interact with users over any messaging system from public Instant Messaging (IM) services used on the desktop to mobile messaging platforms like SMS and the emergent wireless IM platform. Developers can now harness the BuddyScript SDK in combination with the QuickBooks SDK to deliver data and services to users via instant messaging or a browser interface on the desktop, or with the company's BuddyScript Connectivity Service, to wireless phones and PDAs via WAP, SMS, and email.

"Intuit and ActiveBuddy both recognize that small business owners juggle many daily tasks and that they are constantly looking for ways to streamline their operations," said Mark Bercow, vice president of the Intuit Developer Network. "Enabling the exchange of data between a BuddyScript application and the QuickBooks 2003 products will help small businesses save time and manage their resources more efficiently, allowing them to spend more time actually running their business."

"The prototypical QuickBooks customer is an entrepreneur who is frequently away from the computer, and access to customer and inventory data at a remote job site provides real value," said Gray Norton, senior product manager at ActiveBuddy. "The ability to give that customer access to his QuickBooks data over messaging on a wireless device has generated an enthusiastic response from the Intuit Developer Community."

An example BuddyScript application delivering sample data from QuickBooks Online is available at http://www.activebuddy.com/qbdemo/. Intuit developers can visit ActiveBuddy's developer site at www.BuddyScript.com to download the free BuddyScript SDK and view the sample application script for a template of how to access QuickBooks data.

About ActiveBuddy, Inc.

ActiveBuddy (www.activebuddy.com) is the leading provider of software tools and systems for developing and hosting interactive agents. ActiveBuddy software and hosting solutions enable marketers, content and service providers, and businesses to deploy interactive agents that deliver a wide range of personalized content and service across all platforms that support interactive text messaging. Leveraging the rapidly expanding global messaging audience, ActiveBuddy provides companies with a new environment to more efficiently interact with their customers and distribute information. Among ActiveBuddy's customers are Keebler, eBay, Warner Bros. Records, New Line Cinema, Ogilvy Interactive, and Lagardere Active's ElleGirl. Founded in March 2000, ActiveBuddy is based in New York, NY, and Sunnyvale, CA. Principal investors are SoundView Ventures and Reuters.

ActiveBuddy, the ActiveBuddy robot logo, SmarterChild, and BuddyScript are trademarks or registered trademarks of ActiveBuddy Inc.

Intuit, the Intuit logo, Quicken, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, Turbo Tax, ProSeries, and Lacerte, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other parties' trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such.