$70 for a charger is asking a lot, but when Palm announced the pricing for the Touchstone, we all acquiesced because it was such a cool little device. And of course if you’re getting a Pre, you really should have the thing. But it turns out that, while the Pre itself costs nearly as much to make as you’re going to pay for it, the Touchstone charger is made of bargain-bin electronics that probably cost only a handful of ducats to manufacture. Highway robbery? Not really, since Apple (among others) has been doing this kind of thing for a decade.
The $70 is a value proposition which most of us agreed to, though somewhat grudgingly. Palm certainly did some market research and found that was a price they could push, just as any company might do with a unique product. And since they’re positioning the Pre in the rather precarious “bargain luxury” market, it makes sense to imbue the Touchstone, made as it is from common pieces, with the same cachet found in the Pre.
[via Engadget]
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