By Benedict Wee
So the Palm Pre was released over the weekend in the US and although it's received negative reviews from different media sources there were a handful of Palm fans that went out to get the alleged "iphone killer" (honestly, am sick of that term cause 99% of the people who use it don't know what they're talking about).
I personally was never a fan of the Palm (my first PDA was a Handspring) but I could understand the love people have for it and since this might be the company's last bastion against the smartphone market one might think they'd go all out to wow us. Although the phone and OS doesn't interest me one bit (read the reviews and you'll know why) I thought the separately-sold accessory -the Palm Touchstone- was pretty awesome.
The Touchstone is a wireless charger. You put your Palm pre on its small circular base and it gets charged through magnetic induction so basically it's not something you need to have but it does serve an aesthetic use (i.e. it's cool and great to show off). That aesthetic use costs US$70 however.
Or does it? Now I'd have to admit if there was a similar thing for my mobile or assorted handhelds I'd be the first in line to get it but after looking at engadget's post on tearing it apart and finding out how much the components cost I don't think I would purchase it at all.
Palm's Touchstone costs US$5 for parts and manufacturing. 14 times its cost price. So how much do ya think it'll cost when it hits our shores? (hint: a lot more)
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