I have a feeling that in the whole Palm Pre frenzy one important possibly crucial thing is a bit out of the spotlight. I’m talking about the Touchstone wireless charger that will be sold as an accessory. To get one thing straight, inductive charging is not anything new or cutting edge, it has been here since the dawn of electrical age and was patented in a similar form by Nikola Tesla himself. So this technology has been here for quite a while but other that powering toothbrushes, household appliances we haven’t seen it in the mainstream especially not by well recognized companies.

The best way to explain wireless charging is to quote Wikipedia

Wireless energy transfer or wireless power transmission (also known as the Tesla Effect) is the process that takes place in any system where electrical energy is transmitted from a power source to an electrical load, without interconnecting wires in an electrical grid. Wireless transmission is ideal in cases where instantaneous or continuous energy transfer is needed, but interconnecting wires are inconvenient, hazardous, or impossible.

So the Touchstone is in essence a dock, you plug it in a wall socket and place your Palm Pre on it, and it will charge. In order to stay in place there are several strong magnets underneath the inductive surface that will lock Pre in the appropriate charging position.

The advantages of a wireless charger I don’t even need to explain. If Pre starts ringing while charging simply pick it u and answer the call once you are done, just put it back where it was, no connecting and disconnecting the connector, no additional wires that are always in the way.

The best thing is you can use your Palm Pre while charging on the Touchstone, surf, text, browse pictures.
The whole thing (and the idea) sounds pretty cool and I think it will be a huge hit, especially if they price it right. The price and the availability are still unknown but there are some speculations that the Touchstone will cost somewhere from 60-90$. It should be available at the same tame as Palm Pre (May-June)

Check out hands on gallery of Touchstone collected from around the web (via Engadget )