It seems to me that many of the detractors really want the new Kindle, but aren't willing to spend the asking price for it. This explains the derision for those who
are willing to pay for it, as it threatens to encourages Amazon and delays any anticipated pricing reductions that they're hoping Amazon might otherwise offer.
People keep talking about
the poll in the Kindle forum. In that poll, almost 1/5 of the respondents indicated that they are likely to purchase it. If those numbers were extrapolated out to a 4 device lineup (Basic, PW, Voyage, Oasis), I'm betting Amazon would be very happy to see the top-end device making up 20% of its sales, with the bulk of their sales coming from the middle tier devices.
And inadvertently, that poll captures what Amazon is attempting to do. It's unscientific, but that big 60% + number at the bottom (No, nada, never)
still represents a sale to Amazon. Those people aren't leaving the ecosystem; they're just purchasing Kindle models other than the Oasis.
And I still think this body style migrates downstream in a year or two.