Amazon introduces Kindle e-book library lending

Amazon.com is partnering with libraries across the U.S. to enable Kindle e-reader owners and Kindle mobile app users to borrow e-books from their local libraries. More than 11,000 local libraries now offer Kindle loans, with each title offering signature Kindle features like Whispersync (which automatically synchronizes virtual margin notes), highlights and bookmarks, page numbers, and Facebook and Twitter integration.

Amazon.com directs customers to their local library's website to search for available Kindle titles. Once they select the e-book they wish to borrow, users choose the "Send to Kindle" option, which redirects them to the Amazon.com site to login to their customer account--from there, the title will be delivered to the device they select via Wi-Fi or transferred via USB.

Amazon.com's own Kindle Store offers more than 950,000 e-books, including the vast majority of current New York Times Bestsellers. Over 800,000 Kindle titles are priced at $9.99 or less. Amazon now sells more Kindle books than hardcover and softcover volumes combined: As of April 1, Amazon consumers purchase 105 Kindle titles for every 100 print books.

As of the second quarter of 2011, the Kindle leads the worldwide e-reader market with a 51.7 percent share, followed by Barnes & Noble's Nook at 21.2 percent, according to IDC data issued last week. IDC reports that the e-reader market experienced a seasonal sequential drop of 9 percent to 5.4 million units, although year-over-year growth reached 167 percent.

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