• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, November 3, 2011

Take that, Apple! Looking for any advantage it can get in the white-hot tablet wars, Amazon just debuted a digital-book lending library, which will only be available to owners of its Kindle and Kindle Fire devices who are also subscribers to its Amazon Prime program.

“Bottom line, it’s a big move by Amazon in an attempt to give its Kindle devices an edge against Apple’s iPad and Barnes & Nobles’s Nook, and boost Amazon Prime subscriptions at the same time,” writes Msnbc.com.           

But, is the bookish incentive enough to influence consumers? 

Hard to believe, as “None of the six largest publishers in the U.S. is participating,” The Wall Street Journal notes. “Moreover, Amazon will restrict borrowers to one title at a time, one per month.”

Also, while more than 5,000 titles will be available to “borrow” -- including more than 100 New York Times bestsellers -- Amazon’s Prime program costs $79 a year.

Still, “The addition of free e-book lending obviously sweetens the pot and makes the $199 Kindle Fire seem even more enticing,” writes CNet. 

“If I read 10-12 books a year from the Kindle library, that membership fee looks pretty reasonable,” reasons paidContent’s Staci Kramer. “Add in the video, which I don’t use on the PC but expect to with the Kindle Fire, and it looks even better.”

“Amazon can now add free books to [Amazon Prime], which is nice setup for the upcoming Kindle Fire launch, don't you think?” The Verge suggests.

“We'll see how Barnes & Noble (and others) respond, but Amazon has clearly fired another major salvo in the digital reader wars just as Barnes & Noble is on the verge of launching what is expected to be a new Nook Color next week,” CNet adds.

But, what about publishers’ obvious resistance to Amazon’s lending program?

Well, “Given how much publishers have fought with Amazon over issues like pricing, I’m sure they’re being very cautious about how they’re approaching the Lending Library,” writes VentureBeat's Devindra Hardawar. “If it proves successful, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon eventually raises its borrowing limits.”