Netvibes has partnered with Chinese portal Sohu.com (SOHU) and Maxthon, one of China's most popular web browsers, to expand its Universal Widget platform across Asia.

From desktops to personalized pages, social networks and mobile phones, the Netvibes Universal Widget API has pioneered the rapid distribution of universal widgets across the web and mobile devices. Netvibes Universal Widget API enables developers to quickly build universal widgets in just a few lines of code.

Netvibes universal widgets are cross-compatible with the web's leading widget platforms from Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

"Netvibes universal widgets are universal in every sense of the word, by being both compatible with the web's largest widget platforms and accessible to developers and consumers all over the world," said Netvibes founder and CEO, Tariq Krim. "China represents the second largest and fastest growing web economy in the world. Together with Sohu and Maxthon, we are opening the path to a global widget economy that flows between all platforms and countries worldwide."

Maxthon is used by more than 30% of Internet users in China to browse the Web, and it is growing rapidly in the U.S. and other countries as word of mouth has spread through a network of enthusiastic fans. One reason for its popularity is its integrated widget platform, which has allowed users to develop their own plug-ins, or widgets, to expand Maxthon's already impressive list of features. Maxthon's platform is compatible with all widgets created with Netvibes UWA.