Small Business

Jott Leaves Beta, Adds Outlook Integration, New Plans

By Rick Broida

Updated on: August 20, 2008 / 12:00 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Jott for Outlook lets you create new tasks, appointments, and even e-mails using only your voice. It's a new (and fantastic) addition to my beloved Jott, but it comes at a price: To use it, you must subscribe to one of the service's new subscription plans.

Fear not, freebie lovers: There's still Jott Basic, which delivers much of the voice-powered Jott functionality you've grown to love over the past two years. But to use Jott for Outlook, you'll have to sign up for Jott ($3.95 monthly) or Jott Pro ($12.95 monthly). (Find out more about what each plan includes on Jott's Getting Started page.)

I'm sad. I guess I should have known that Jott was too good to be free forever. Although Jott Basic offers most of what I need from the service, it doesn't let me add Google Calendar entries or send text messages. And I can't use the cool new Outlook plug-in (which you can see in action in the above video). What about the rest of you? Will you pay for Jott or stick with the ad-supported free version?