Microsoft taps Flextronics to make new Zune players

REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) new lineup of Zune digital media players will be made by contract manufacturer Flextronics International Ltd (FLEX.O) instead of Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T), which made the first Zune.

J Allard, a Microsoft corporate vice president, said on Tuesday in an interview with Reuters that the company opted to go with Toshiba's 30-gigabyte player last year because it needed to rush to market with its first product.

This year, it decided to bring all the design in-house and selected Flextronics for the manufacturing.

"To build this product, we really needed to think about it end-to-end," said Allard, who runs the Zune business. "It also brings with it cost advantages."

Microsoft said it will start selling three new Zune models in mid-November. The 4-gigabyte, 8-gigabyte and 80-gigabyte Zunes will all come with a new feature that allows a user to wirelessly and automatically sync media via a WiFi network from a PC to the Zune when its battery is charging.

(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi, editing by Braden Reddall)