Amazon is to introduce e-book lending for customers to loan titles to other Kindle users. However, the retailer has said an e-book will only be lendable if the publisher or rights holder allows it to be.

In a posting on its customer forum in the United States, Amazon said the feature will be introduced this later this year. Each book can be lent for up to 14 days and the lender cannot read the book during this period.

It is unclear whether the service will be introduced in the UK. There is no announcement on its co.uk site Kindle discussion page. The move could be seen as a way of targeting Barnes & Noble's Nook e-book reader, which also offers e-book lending.

Amazon also announced in the same posting it would be making Kindle newspapers and magazines readable on Kindle apps.

The Bookseller