Palm's $70 Touchstone dock, other Pre accessories appear in Best Buy system
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 10th 2009 3:43AM
posted May 10th 2009 3:43AM
[Via PreThinking]
posted May 10th 2009 3:43AM
HP Pre 3
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"matte instead of gloss"
Sounds like another benefit to me.
Yeah, I'd rather have the "soft-touch" style back than the slippery shiny one. the problem is it then doesn't match the rest of the device, but it's personal preference.
But after obsessing over what the phone looks like, you put a cover on it anyways. What's the point?
@ Phoenix. This I did not know. Thanks for keeping me right.
that's what I'm here for :P
I'm sorry where is the price listed?
I just called Best Buy and they said it's not in stock today 5/10/09
That is likely the warehouse stock date or even the stock date for the stores to get it and put it in the back. I would expect them to have the warehouses and backs of the stores stocked ahead of time.
I work at Best Buy, and the in-stock date in RSS (the system you are looking at) just means that the company starts "carrying" it on that date.
I gotta tell ya, I just went through D&H's distributor site. This thing isn't on it. I claim bunk at this point.
Btw, the touchstone kit includes a new battery cover door that works with touchstone. The one out of the box does not.
Why do you need a new battery cover to work with the Touchstone?
Does Joseph Henry not like glossiness?
I think it is because the original glossy back cover is too slippery to stay put on the touchstone. So they include a matte cover which is rougher and less smooth and that cover sticks to the charger.
If Apple can charge $40 for an iPhone dock without even including the charging cord (which is another $30 if you need 2 or lost one), then Palm can easily charge $70 for this.
you know what engadgetmobile, if apple had released the iPhone with an inductive charger that sold separately, i guarantee you would not have your panties in a bunch if it sold for 70 dollars. you would say something like "$70, thats the price you got to pay for an unprecedented feature on a phone. better start selling those kidneys."
A new charger for a phone often costs 20 to 30 dollars. A new battery cover can often cost 30 dollars (we will assume OEM).
Why is this then so expensive when you are getting both of thise items along with the ability to charge inductively?
I dont get it. Its priced just about right, if maybe 10 dollars too high.
Considering a Sonic Care Toothbrush is about $70, not a bad deal. Normal toothbrush $3, inductive charger $67.
Seems fine to me.
I think they could get away with $49 for this thing. $70 is about 20 bones too much.
That being said, I agree that if this was an Apple accessory for the iPhone people would be ok with the normal Apple Tax.
Well, personally, at $70, I'll still be buying one. At $40-50 each, I'd probably have bought one for work and one for home.
Though, if the version without the back is only $40 or $50, I might get a second one eventually anyway, just not right away.
Whoever took this picture is gunna get fired ;o
Hate'n on Apple, hate'n on Palm, engadget, Best Buy and Americans. You people need to get a life.
To be honest, these items have been in the system for about two weeks now so I would not hold TOO much attention to them. Last time I checked it claimed these items were not carried by location for all stores in the district (and I happen to be in a VERY busy district for BB). A lot of times it will not show when they are being shipped to the store on this system till it appears in the truck and magically pops into the system.
$70 for a charger , sounds like part of the fail formula sprint n palm have lined for the pre.
I just want to see if has iphonelike desirability .
Will it do what iPhone did on July 11 2008
N sell 1 million in 72 hours???
Can't wait to see, if it does I'll buy a pre just to pay homage.
Everybody's arguing about whether the American or Euro way of writing dates is better. Bah. I write my dates like 20090510. Year month day, and by extension hour minute second. It's inherently sort-friendly because the digit that changes first is the one on the far right.
Me too... I usually write the date 2009 05 10, or 2009.05.10
Makes much more sense to me.
Palm has something special here.Of course the Apple yuppies are having problems with this because they want to be the the ones with the unique device. Well guess what your reign is over. Palm has come to regain what is rightfully theirs. KING OF THE SMARTPHONES
Having worked at BBY I can tell you the in stock date doesn’t mean squat. I could still not show up till a month after that.
How about on 5/11 you go back and look the SKU up and see if it is in transit.
Then i’ll be impressed.
Palm has something special here.Of course the Apple yuppies are having problems with this because they want to be the the ones with the unique device. Well guess what your reign is over. Palm has come to regain what is rightfully theirs. KING OF THE SMARTPHONES
please wait until the iPhone 3 is released before you make such assumptions.
The only area where I see this phone besting the next iPhone is multi-tasking. There are many many areas where the existing iPhone bests the Pre, at least for me, as a current iPhone owner, completely immersed in Apple's eco-system.
I hope Palm proves me wrong, as I plan on spending a LOT of time handling both new phones before I make my final decision. It will be a tough sell, though, with the Pre's terrible storage options. If iPhone 3 has 32GB (which it will), it's game over.
h
From what I have seen, the new Touchstone charger basically terminates to a USB connector. You then have two separate adapters. One for home charging and one for car charging. Essentially you can leave the adapters plugged into the wall and the car at all times and merely take the dock with you. The base unit also adheres to the dash of your car through some sort of non slip surface to serve as a car mount. I guess the point here is that if you purchased a home charger, car charger, and a car mount you would probably be in the range of $70 anyway unless you went to the local gas station and bought a cheapy.
This is a gimmick product, plain and simple - just like a dock.
The only reason people buy these things, and don't simply plug the damn thing in (which takes EXACTLY the same amount of time, mind you) is for the "cool" or "baller" factor. That's fine and all, but we shouldn't pretend like the touchstone dock does anything that the USB cord doesn't.
you gotta have early adopters for everything... eventually..
Lmao, u guys are freakin stalkerrs!
$70 for a charger? Who does Palm think they are, Apple?
What's worse is that the actual cost BBY pays for these are around $30 a pop so that's about $40 of profit per sale. As an employee I only pay 5% over cost. :D
OMG IT'S RSS!!!!!! I really hope that employee doesn't get caught, he could get terminated for that.