Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is about to reveal its newest Oasis e-Reader
The e-commerce giant's latest Kindle is its smallest and lightest yet. But it's also the most expensive, at $400.00 U.S. — almost $100.00 more than the current champ, the $300 Kindle Voyage. Now the company is betting that its sleek frame and a cover that doubles as a rechargeable battery will attract dedicated e-book users to its eighth generation device, called the Kindle Oasis.
Amazon says the new Kindle is 30% thinner and 20% lighter than previous Kindles. It's also asymmetrical, with a grip on one side for one-handed reading.
The e-reader landscape has experienced a few changes since Amazon introduced the first Kindle in 2007. Sales surged for a few years, but started leveling off around 2012 as e-readers grew more commonplace. They even dipped slightly in 2013 but then rose 3.8% to $4.31 billion in 2014, according to the most recent stats available from the Association of American Publishers.
Dedicated e-readers help drive e-book sales at Amazon, which publishes many itself via Kindle Direct Publishing. They can also serve as a gateway drug that helps draw people to other goods and deals on Amazon, including its Prime membership program.
Like previous Kindles, the Oasis features a black-and-white screen designed to make reading easier. It features two batteries — one in the e-reader and another in its cover — which together stretch the battery life to nine weeks of "regular" reading (30 minutes a day by Amazon's definition) or months on standby. The Oasis and its cover charge simultaneously via one port.
Amazon opened Thursday trading up $3.56, or 0.6%, at $618.38 U.S., in a 52-week trading range of $374.40 to $696.44 U.S.
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