Apple should take a hint from Amazon’s Kindle Library Lending and implement such a capability for its iBook/iBookstore app/technology for iOS devices.
The Kindle Lending Library is a new feature launching later this year that will allow Kindle customers to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 libraries in the United States. It will be available for all generations of Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps (http://www.amazon.com/kindle).
Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for an iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android device, Blackberry, Windows phone, Windows PC or a Mac. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer’s annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.
Amazon is working with OverDrive, a provider of digital content solutions for over 11,000 public and educational libraries in the United States, to bring a library borrowing experience to Kindle customers. The Kindle Library Lending will be available later this year for Kindle and free Kindle app users.
This would be a great feature for Apple to implement for its own devices. Two of the drawbacks for me regarding digital books has been the inability to check out library books or, if I buy a book from the Bookstore, I can’t share it with anyone else.
Amazon has addressed the first problem on its software with the Lending Library. Let’s hope Apple does the same.
— Dennis Sellers
