Microsoft Corp hopes its up-coming Tablet PC will make a splash in China, having signed a deal with dominant manufacturer the Legend Group Ltd.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is reported to have signed a deal with Beijing, China-based Legend Group, which Microsoft called China's number-one PC manufacturer.

Legend Group is to be the only mainland Chinese company to offer the Tablet PC on its formal November 7 launch, reports said. San Jose, California-based Acer Inc, Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard Co and Tokyo, Japan-based Fujitsu Ltd are among others manufacturers signed up to the Tablet PC.

Microsoft believes the Tablet PC will help drive uptake of Windows in Asia, where it said character-based languages such as Chinese and Japanese are awkward to type on traditional keyboards. The Tablet PC uses touch-sensitive flat screens for input.

The company will this Friday release to manufacturers Japanese and Korean editions of the tablet version of Windows XP.

© ComputerWire