Amazon last week unveiled the Kindle Oasis, an e-reader that comes with a 6-inch screen, improved lighting for outdoor reading, WiFi and more. But given Amazon's troubles in the e-reader market and the increasing demand for e-reader apps instead of hardware, some market watchers are questioning why it would launch a new model. After all, demand for e-readers, like their pure tablet cousins, is light, and competitors such as Barnes & Noble have all but abandoned the space. Amazon has ulterior motives, though. The company won't sell millions of Kindle Oasis e-readers, but that's just fine. Oasis is simply a means to an end, a way to attract more people to what Amazon really cares about—Kindle ebooks, Amazon Prime, e-commerce and its other services. Like Apple, Google and Microsoft, Amazon is committed to using hardware to draw customers into its universe. And the Oasis is just the latest tool to achieve its goal. Read on to learn more about the Kindle Oasis—the e-reader Amazon hopes will keep customers engaged with its online services.
- eWeek