Amazon recently announced that Kindle reader owners will shortly be able to lend Kindle books to other Kindle users. The exact date is still to be confirmed – but it should be before the end of the year.
It’s a very positive move which will help both e-books and e-book readers to become even more widely accepted. The reading public seem to have become accustomed to e-books in a very short time. Kindle books are now outselling traditional hardcovers by a factor of 180 to 100, according to Amazon. In all likelihood, it can only be a matter of time before e-books are outselling paperbacks.
Amazon’s lending scheme will allow Kindle owners to lend Kindle books to their friends for a two week period. Whilst the book is “on loan” the borrower will be able to access it in exactly the same manner as if they had actually bought it. For the duration of the loan period, the original purchaser will be unable to access the book. Just the same as lending a “real” book to someone in fact.
Amazon has released a number of free Kindle apps which allow Kindle books to be read on other devices. These exist for the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, any device which runs the Android operating system and the Blackberry smart phone. It might seem odd that Amazon has gone to such lengths to make their top selling Kindle reader redundant in this manner. Currently, 20% of all Kindle book sales are made via non-Kindle devices. As an ever growing number of devices using Android are released onto the market, it seems likely that this percentage is likely to grow.
Up until now, these free Kindle apps have worked only with Kindle books. Amazon has now announced that they will shortly make magazines and newspapers available in this manner. Again, the release date is yet to be confirmed – but Amazon has advised that they plan to start with the Apple devices and follow up with the Android devices and then the desktop applications in due course.
These changes may appear to be fairly minor. However, the fact that they bring e-books more closely into line with the functionality of printed books, could be an important positive factor for someone making a buying decision. You can now do just about everything with an e-book that you would with a printed book – other than using a dog-ear to mark your place that is. It makes it easier for even the most traditional book lover to make the switch to e-books.
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