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Microsoft to Open Zune Manufacturing Facility
May 16, 2007 |Estimated reading time: Less than a minute
SAN FRANCISCO Microsoft Corp. will open a facility in Doumen, China, to manufacture its Zune personal media player. The company cited cost efficiencies, flexibility, and process control as reasons for investing in a proprietary facility. The company initially manufactured Zune products through a partnership with Toshiba Corp.
The company expects to produce this second iteration of the Zune device sometime in the fall of 2007. It will work with a manufacturing partner, which will assemble only Microsoft-supplied parts and according to the OEM's specifications. End products will include several versions with varying storage capacity, possibly based on integrating smaller-capacity flash-based devices.
Microsoft is increasingly interested in taking a direct role in electronics manufacturing, said Jason Reindorp, offering the OEM control over each component of the end product. It will, however, continue to partner with EMS providers in low-cost regions such as China to maintain a high-volume manufacturing infrastructure. Flextronics International manufactures the Microsoft Xbox in Doumen as well.