Palm Pre Buzz Increases Thanks to New Touchstone Details

More details of the Palm Touchstone—a charging device for the Palm Pre—are emerging, and with them greater confidence that the Pre may see an April 30 release date, instead of the early June date expected to coincide with the new Apple iPhones.
 
The April date has been circulating since someone at Sprint reportedly Twittered about it to Logicomm CEO Jim Van, Gadgetell reported.
 
The thinking goes, if the Palm Pre release date were still nearly two months away—instead of two weeks—Sprint wouldn’t be putting employees in lockdown mode for May, as well as drawing new attention to the Touchstone.
 
For example, a Palm rep offering a demo of the device recently “let slip” that the Touchstone inductive charging dock will be the first product in a full lineup of Touchstone wireless products from Palm.
 
The little nugget of a charger won’t be packaged with the Pre, but sold separately. (For an up-close look, visit this eWEEK product gallery.)
 
The appeal of Touchstone is a mix of novelty and ingenuity. Touchstone plugs into an electrical outlet, and the Palm Pre, wearing a replacement back cover, magnetically attaches to the Touchstone and charges through induction—there’s nothing to click into, and incoming calls can be accepted over the speakerphone.
 
It’s just one more way Palm is adding appeal to the device it hopes will be its iPhone killer.
 
Palm has yet to release pricing information for the Palm Pre or the Touchstone. However, Gadgetell reports that another tweet from Van—Twitter clearly being the new rumor mill—says it will be $299 with a two-year contract.
 
On the service side, Sprint will offer individual, family and business plans. More pricing information is available here.