State Of The Art Inc. Signs Exclusive Distribution Agreement with Apple Computer Inc.
IRVINE, Calif. — September 29, 1993 — Accounting software developer State Of The Art Inc. (NASDAQ:SOTA) Wednesday announced that it has finalized a distribution agreement with Apple Computer Inc., making the StarCore division of Apple the exclusive distributor of Expense It!, the business expense reporting software developed specifically for the Newton by State Of The Art.
Under the agreement, Apple and its subsidiaries will license, market and resell the Expense It! software worldwide. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"Apple's Newton MessagePad represents the next generation of computing," said David S. Samuels, chairman, chief executive officer and president of State Of The Art.
"I am exceedingly confident, based on the current success of the Newton and, moreover, its future potential, that Expense It! will ultimately prove to be a multimillion-dollar product for our company. Expense It! is a horizontal application with a great deal of genuine utility which will appeal to most business people, further broadening its market reach."
An estimated 25 million Americans already work outside their offices, and 13 million hold jobs that require them to be on the road at least 20 percent of the time, according to the Yankee Group market research firm. All are potential buyers of personal digital assistants (PDAs).
A recent Computer Retail Week article also quotes the Gartner Group market research firm predicting a significant market for PDAs in the future, with consumer hand-held computers reaching sales of 4.7 million units in 1994 and 15.5 million units by 1997.
"Expense It! makes the most of the Newton architecture by taking advantage of Newton intelligence and the ability to link to desktop computers," said Ken Wirt, director of marketing for Apple's Personal Interactive Electronics (PIE) division.
"The StarCore division has been working closely with developers such as State Of The Art to ensure a broad range of applications support Newton technology. Expense It! represents one of the leading business/professional titles that further reinforces our efforts to establish the Newton family as the principal standard for the PDA market."
Expense It! is designed for use by individuals who incur business expenses. It allows any business person to record travel, entertainment and other business-related expenses, compile the information and print expense reports consistent with IRS guidelines. Expense It! takes elegent advantage of the Newton operating system and built-in intelligence, providing a feature-rich object-oriented solution.
The software automatically funnels data into the appropriate fields of an expense report and can work invisibly in the background on the Newton MessagePad. If Expense It! is uncertain about what to do with expense information entered by the user, it will prompt the user for confirmation after making an educated guess as to what the user wants to do with the data.
Once entered, expense information can be organized by date, category, amount or description. An expense list allows the user to view all of the expenses entered for an event, project or trip and provides the ability to easily change, correct or remove an expense entry. Expense reports provide the ability to quickly verify subtotals, cash advances and balances, and outstanding per diem allowances.
A completed expense report can be printed from Newton, exported to another software program such as InFormed, FileMaker or Excel, or exported directly to any State Of The Art products, including MacP&L, MAS 90/G and MOMENTUM. Template expense reports are provided with the software, and users can custom-design the reports to meet individual company specifications.
State Of The Art retains the ability to market Expense It! directly to end users, including granting site licenses and multiuser licenses, and will manage the development and marketing of product upgrades, updates and enhancements. The company will also provide customer services and support to registered end users of Expense It!
In addition to worldwide distribution, Apples takes responsibility for Expense It! channel marketing, promotions, point-of-sale opportunities, etc. In the future, product information on Expense It! may be included in Newton in-box brochures, demonstration cards, the StarCore catalog and other promotional materials provided to Apple's resellers.
Scheduled for release in November, Expense It! carries a suggested retail price of $139.95 on diskette and $159.95 on PCMCIA card.
Founded in 1981, State Of The Art develops and markets accounting software for microcomputers and PDAs. MOMENTUM, the company's high-end, advanced-technology graphical user interface accounting software, supports multiple operating environments, hardware platforms and database/file systems.
MOMENTUM will be available for all popular operating environments, including Windows 3.x, Windows NT, Macintosh System 7, the Power PC, the Pentium chip, OS/2 and UNIX Motif/Open Desktop. MOMENTUM will be developed utilizing ADDAPT, an object-oriented, open-architecture, cross-platform development system engineered specifically for accounting software applications.
The company's character-based product line, MAS 90 EVOLUTION/2, can be integrated into a comprehensive accounting solution for virtually any size or type of business, and is available in four industry-standard operating environments: single-user DOS, DOS network, Windows and UNIX.
MAS 90/G is a mid-range graphical user interface product planned for release in the second quarter of 1994. MacP&L is the company's award-winning entry-level accounting software specifically designed for smaller businesses. Available for the Macintosh operating environment, a Windows version of P&L is currently in development.
State Of The Art has more than 2,000 authorized resellers located throughout the United States and Canada whose sales efforts are supported by a national network of more than 4,100 software consultants composed predominantly of public accounting firms.
NOTE: The product names used are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
State Of The Art Inc., Irvine
Geri L. Schanz, 714/753-1222