Amazon has confirmed that Kindle reader users will soon have the facility to lend Kindle books to friends and family. The exact date is, as yet, unconfirmed – but it will be sometime this year.

It’s a move which will make it even easier for e-books and e-book readers to be adopted. E-books seem to have been accepted by the public in a relatively short timespan. Kindle books are now outselling traditional hardcovers by a factor of 180 to 100, according to Amazon. It seems likely that e-book sales will outstrip even paperback sales in the near future.

The new Amazon lending scheme will allow Kindle books to be lent 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. Precisely the same as lending a traditional book to someone in point of fact.

Amazon has made a variety of free Kindle apps available which allow Kindle books to be read using a variety of other devices. At the moment, there are apps for the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, the iPhone, the iPad, the Blackberry smartphone and any device which runs the Android operating system. At first glance it may appear a little odd that Amazon has gone out of its way to make their best selling Kindle reader redundant in this way. Currently, 20% of all Kindle book sales are made via non-Kindle devices. As ever more gadgets running the Android operating system are released, this percentage seems likely to increase.

Up until now, these free Kindle apps have worked only with Kindle books. Amazon has now confirmed that they will make both newspapers and magazines available via Kindle apps. Again, the release date has not been firmed up – 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 seem relatively small. 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. Kindle owners can now do practically everything with an e-book that they would with a traditional printed book – other than turning down the page corners to mark their place that is. It makes it easier than ever for even the most conservative bibliophile to make the move to electronic books.

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Technology and Gadgets