Last week Amazon put the Kindle Scribe on sale for the lowest price ever since it was released at the end of November of last year, and yet Amazon is still selling the Kindle Oasis that was released over 4 years ago for full price.
They’ll surely put the Oasis on sale at some point this week for Black Friday too, but there’s something seriously messed up with the current Kindle lineup when the Kindle Scribe is selling for less than the Kindle Oasis.
The 8GB Kindle Oasis with a 7-inch E Ink screen and lockscreen ads is priced at $249; the Kindle Scribe with a 10.2-inch E Ink screen and 16GB of storage is $239. Additionally, the Scribe does not have lockscreen ads that cost an extra $20 to remove on the Oasis.
The Kindle Scribe also comes with a stylus and the device has vastly superior battery life to the Oasis. Both devices have a rotation sensor, an adjustable warm light, and an auto-adjusting frontlight. The one advantage the Oasis has is the fact that it’s waterproof, and it also has page turn buttons.
So why is the price of the Oasis still so high? The Signature Edition Paperwhite that sells for $189 has 32GB of storage, no ads, and wireless charging. How is the 32GB Oasis worth $110 more than that?
None of it makes any sense. What is it about the Kindle Scribe that makes Amazon want to sell it for less than the Kindle Oasis? It’s not like they’re going to make a fortune off of selling replacement stylus tips.
At some point you’d think they’d drop the price of the Kindle Oasis permanently considering the age of the device and the fact that it’s the only remaining Kindle with an older microUSB port. The base model also has half the storage space of the entry-level Kindle that sells for $99.
Don’t get me wrong, the Kindle Oasis is still a nice device if you don’t mind the older USB port and older screen tech, but the price makes no sense on any level. It’s a relic from a different time that doesn’t fit in with the current lineup at all.
Check my Kindle Scribe vs Kindle Oasis Comparison Review for a more detailed look at how the two devices compare.
I imagine the Scribe isn’t selling well and/or they want to move more of the newer devices. Prices generally follow supply and demand. That or they have an internal reason for wanting to move more Scribes.
My theory is that Amazon knows Boox is going to release a 10 inch 300PPI Black and white ereader soon, so they’re trying to mop up all the cash they can on Scribes before Boox takes over the 10 inch market.
I think you overestimate Boox’s popularity. Even if they could somehow match Amazon on price, Onyx is just a small company from China that most people have never heard of. About the only company that could put a dent in the Kindle ecosystem at this point is Apple and they clearly have no interest in releasing any E Ink devices.
In the West, you are probably correct. But in east Asian nations, Boox is quite popular. If Boox releases a 10 inch 300 PPI reader, I think it would sink the Scribe.
I’ve noticed Amazon doesn’t even let Boox sell its Poke or Leaf ereaders on Amazon’s site. It can’t be a coincidence that Amazon’s Kindles are the same screen size as those devices. My guess is Amazon is afraid its devices won’t look as appealing next to the Poke or Leaf.
You have it backwards. Onyx are ones who are afraid to sell their smaller devices on Amazon. Other companies have been selling their ereaders on Amazon for years—Kobo, PocketBook, even Nooks. Amazon makes money off of it so why would they care. They aren’t nearly as protective of Kindles as you think. They have their hands in a million other profitable things. They used to care more, but at this point Kindles are more of an afterthought. They didn’t even release a new device this year, and the Oasis 3 has been lingering for over 4 years now without any upgrades.
Exactly what Colin said. I believe Scribe doesn’t sell, but Oasis does. Simple as that… Scribe is gigantic, heavy and not very useful for masses, unlike Oasis, as most people just use it for reading anyway.
Based on the number of overall reviews, I don’t think the Oasis is nearly as popular as people think it is and that’s probably why Amazon has stopped releasing newer versions. In 4 years and 4 months the Oasis 3 only has 18,821 reviews on Amazon. In just over 2 years the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition has over 21,700 reviews, and the regular Paperwhite has over 45k reviews. In one year the basic Kindle has gotten over 13k reviews, so the Oasis isn’t selling anywhere near those numbers, which isn’t surprising considering the high price. The Scribe has 3907 reviews in just under a year so if you extrapolate that over the same time it seems to be selling about the same as the Oasis. There’s also the bundle packages to take into account but either way if the Oasis is outselling the Scribe it isn’t by much.
They have the Oasis on sale here in Mexico. Along with the paperwhite, but not the basic. The paperwhite is cheaper than the basic. They have yet to sell the Scribe here. I had hoped they would have it available by now.
I don’t get the not selling the Scribe in Mexico thing. They released it a year ago next week! Guess it’s never going to happen…
I did ask a support rep about the scribe and he said it was coming but did not say when. I was hoping to get one on sale here during black Friday and cyber Monday. But so far nothing official from them. Maybe by December they will finally make it available. Maybe they don’t have the manufacturing supply for all the other countries as of yet.
It took a few months before the Paperwhite 11th gen was made available in Mexico. Maybe their production line for the scribe is not able to keep up with global demand as of yet?
It’s all about those page turn buttons. People love buttons. I’m not surprised about the Scribe, Amazon has been begging people to buy the Scribe since it came out, it seems like it’s on sale every other week. I wouldn’t be surprised if they start giving it away for free by next year. I’m not a big fan of the Scribe I think it’s too big, the screen contrast is hot garbage. Text doesn’t pop and blacks aren’t inky enough for me.