Popular eBook lending site Lendle is recoiling from the abrupt termination of its Amazon access. This basically neuters Lendle since Amazon has removed them from their API system. Lendle then published a blog post that lets people know exactly what is happening with the situation. Amazon reportedly told Lendle that their service does not “serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.” Ouch.
The CO-Founder of Lendle Jeff Croft was quite pissed off at the timing of Amazon’s move, which came just six weeks after Lendle first launched its program. Their service targeted Kindle users to help them facilitate the lending process.
eBook Lending sites are supposed to be a positive thing and to draw more attention to the fact only Amazon and Barnes and Noble currently offer this, which in many cases is the deciding factor to go with their e-readers. It is a shame Amazon has come down so hard on these guys. The rest of the lending sites are visibly shaking and a bit concerned.
Since the shutdown, Lendle has been retweeting tributes from happy customers around the world. We’ve collected a few of those tweets below. (Via FutureBook)
We at Good e-Reader have high hopes for eBook Lending clubs and how they will stop ebook piracy.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
