Sources with Good E-Reader has suggested that Amazon.com is opening a retail store to push for sales of the Kindle. The Amazon.com retail project is to gauge the market to see if a chain of stores would be profitable. Amazon.com’s store would be boutique and the shelves would be stocked with only high margin and high-end items. They will also stock the stores with cases, screen protectors, and USB adapters. The Amazon retail store would also give customers a way to physically buy books and sample e-books via WiFi. The store is expected to launch by the end of the year to capitalize on the holiday season.

Amazon.com has released information about how many Kindles have been sold during the holiday season. In December alone, four million Kindles have been sold. “We are grateful to our customers worldwide for making this the best holiday ever for Kindle,” stated Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. The #1 and #4 best-selling Kindle books released in 2011 were also both published independently by their authors using Kindle Direct Publishing.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has sent out a press release announcing that the family of Kindle e-book readers will be available in over 16,000 retail stores this holiday season. This means that you can pick up a Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G, and Kindle Fire from your local Target, Walmart, Best Buy, or Radio Shack stores starting a week from today. Check out the press release below:

In just a few days Toys R Us shoppers will be greeted by an opportunity to buy Amazon Kindle eReaders along with their children’s toy purchases. The devices go on sale in the chain’s US stores on July 31st. The Kindle is also already sold in retail stores like Target and Best Buy. [Mashable]

Amazon is now offering Kindle Textbook Rental, giving students digital textbooks for up to 80% off. TechCrunch reports that the service allows students to customize their rental, so they only pay to have the book as long as they need it—anywhere from 30 to 360 days. In addition, Amazon’s Whispersync technology allows students to keep their notes in the Amazon Cloud, and Amazon offers to continue this storage past the end of a rental period.

The most popular selling Amazon.com Kindle device is the one that has advertising and special offers built in that retails for $114. The $25 in savings that people get from the Kindle 6″ WiFi with E Ink Pearl technology makes a difference to people on whether they want a Kindle. This holiday season, I would not be surprised if Amazon.com drops the ad-supported Kindle to below $99. [BusinessInsider]

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced a new feature today called Kindle Library Lending. This feature allows Kindle customers to borrow books from over 11,000 libraries in the U.S. The Kindle Lending Library will be made available for all of the Kindle generations.

Kindlepost.com has some news about the new generation of the Kindle and the Kindle 3G. Some of the new features include: