Professor and author Clayton Christensen's latest book, Competing Against Luck, talks about "jobs theory." He postulates that we "hire" products and technologies to do specific jobs for us and that a successful product takes care of a "job to be done."
When analyzing why I purchased Amazon's Kindle Oasis, the job to be done was this: replace my purchasing of traditional text-heavy books (like Christensen's, for example) and, in my wife's words "keep the house lighter." I was not asking the Oasis to replicate image-heavy books—those, for at least the medium term, will continue to be purchased in physical form. So how, well does the Oasis do its designated job?
Like all Kindles, the Oasis is a single-function device in a world of capable multi-function devices. With all options, including 3G and the removal of the "Special Offers" advertising, it is an expensive product: at $380, $90 more than Amazon's previous top of the line e-reader, the Kindle Voyage.
So, what do you get for your extra $90? Every Oasis includes a leather "charging cover" (available in walnut, black, or merlot) which includes a battery which contributes to Amazon's battery charge rating of "months"—I have recharged my Oasis once in eight weeks. It is also almost two ounces less than the Voyage.
The Oasis comes in aggressively small packaging—perhaps to emphasize how small it is. The Oasis itself is 5.6 by 4.8 by 0.33 inches with the included leather charging cover measuring 5.7 by 4.9 by 0.18 inches. The screen is the same 6-inch size as all current Kindles.
This Kindle is the first I've ever owned, though I've tested many, going all the way back to the first one in November 2007. It differentiates from many multi-function smartphones and tablets with its matte e-ink display (so easy on the eyes for lengthy reading periods) and its tiny size, especially when considering the size of the 6-inch display. I'm quite happy with my Oasis, and I think users who have the same needs will be, too.
John Mulhern III, posted 11/26/2016
For more information on the Oasis, visit Amazon's Kindle Oasis store at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00REQKWGA/ref=nav_shopall_1_k_ods_eink_wy
For more information on Competing Against Luck, visit Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck
