FileMaker unveils Bento 3 personal database for the Mac

Apple owned FileMaker on Tuesday introduced Bento 3, the newest version of the company’s personal database application for the Mac.

iphoto_integration The new version of Bento adds many new features including further integration with Apple’s built-in applications and technologies. For example, Bento now integrates with iPhoto, allowing users to store additional information about photos.

Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services at FileMaker explained to The Loop that the integration with iPhoto works just like the existing integration with Address Book. Even though the photo shows up in Bento, the application is only linking to the photo, it doesn’t actually copy it.

Bento 3 also introduces the concept of sharing libraries. Taking its cue from Apple, Bento 3 treats sharing just like Apple’s iTunes shares music. When the application is opened, Bento will automatically find other shared libraries on the network — if you have permission to access the library, you can see the information in Bento just like it was on your computer.

“Sharing has been a top user request,” said Rosenberg. “There is no configuration or setup needed from the user.”

The new version also adds 10 new templates allowing users to get up and running very quickly.

FileMaker will also release a new version of Bento for the iPhone that resolves compatibility issues related to Bento 3 for Mac. Users will see the update on their iPhone when it becomes available in the App Store.

Bento 3 costs $49 or $99 for a family pack of five licenses. It requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard and will also run on the recently released OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. For a limited time, FileMaker is offering a $20 rebate to existing users of Bento 1 and Bento 2.

http://simonpride.blogspot.com Simon Pride

I really wonder what the size of the end-user Mac database market is these days, when almost all of the general information management needs are covered by the OS (Address Book), domain-specific apps (Delicious Library etc) with specific added value for the domain (e.g. reading barcodes), or Library apps where the Library *is* the catalog (iTunes, iPhoto etc). What else is left for the general user to organize? Granted this app might be aimed at the small business that wants to organize and catalog its product or service offerings, but for the normal end-user I’m struggling to see who will buy it.

Jim Dalrymple

I see Bento as being like the DL example you gave. It has a lot of added value for a low cost. From my use of the app, it’s pretty powerful, but not enough to scare away consumers.

That was the big knock on database apps — they were boring and difficult to understand. That’s not Bento, though.