The 50-acre village, called MonteLago, opened in August with all the touchstones of an Intrawest product: walkways, faux European architecture, street names like Via Brianza and Via Bel Canto that aspire to perfect pitch -- even a fictional town history.
Apple's retail footprint today spans nearly 500 Apple Stores globally and serves as an important public touchstone for the company, its products and aesthetic vision.
Products range from the Palm Touchstone charging dock to the wonderful-sounding Electronic Warm Shoes from Fu Da Tong Technology in Taiwan.
A Palm marketing manager let slip that Touchstone is a full family of near-field induction products and that the little Touchstone charger for the Palm Pre – basically that magnetic charger thing that you stick the Pre to in order to grab some juice – is just one of many products.
A product of Australia's Faraday Media, founded by Chris Saad and Ashley Angell, Touchstone is currently in private alpha with a few hundred invites going out per month.
Linda Angell, 56, who took an early retirement from General Motors, keeps a mailbox there for her year-old business, Touchstone Evaluations Inc., which provides design and testing support for medical and consumer products.
