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Altering its efforts to spur adoption of OneNote, Microsoft has struck a deal with Toshiba to preinstall the new note-taking software on laptops and Tablet PCs.

New Notebooks, Tablets

Toshiba, one of the world's largest mobile computer vendors, will deliver OneNote preinstalled on notebooks and Tablet PCs introduced after October 21, the date Microsoft officially launches its new Office products, including OneNote, the companies say.

The first Toshiba product to come with OneNote is a new Satellite notebook comptuer that will be announced on October 21, says Terry Cronan, director of customer marketing for Toshiba's computer systems group. Satellite is Toshiba's notebook line for consumers, small and medium-sized businesses and the public sector.

Toshiba was one of the first vendors to release a Tablet PC, which runs a version of Microsoft Windows XP.

The deal, to be announced at the World PC Expo event in Japan by senior Microsoft and Toshiba executives, is the first system partner agreement for OneNote announced by Microsoft. Terms of the agreement are confidential.

Other Bundles?

The agreement with Toshiba is not exclusive, said Bobby Moore, product manager for OneNote at Microsoft.

Bundling deals "are a great way to deliver OneNote. You could imagine that we are talking with other [hardware vendors], but we do see Toshiba as a leader in this space," he says.

Hewlett-Packard and IBM, together with Toshiba, form the world's top three mobile computer vendors.

Microsoft's price tag for OneNote in the U.S. is $199. A $100 promotional mail-in rebate is offered to make the product more attractive in its introduction. Toshiba's Cronan does not expect the price of Toshiba products to go up as a result of the inclusion of OneNote.

Microsoft is playing various cards to seed the market with OneNote. In addition to the $100 rebate for buyers of the product, in August Microsoft announced it will give away the product to certain schools and colleges and offer special academic pricing.

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