Good Ideas Turned Bad: $295 Keyport Keyholder

By Evan Ackerman

It’s always so depressing to watch what happens when a good concept becomes overly commercialized. The Keyport Keyholder takes up to six standard keys (house, car, etc.) and puts them into a little metal case that lets you select which key you want whenever you want it. Not a bad idea, right? The website, though, is full of hype: its “ultra futuristic look” has been “created to complement your personal style” in the form of “one universal access device” that’s “the most sophisticated entry device available.” Um, it holds keys, get over yourselves… Skymall (of all places) has been offering the exact same thing for credit cards for years, for all of $40. This thing? It’s $295, plus $75 (!) in shipping if you live outside the US. And there’s more: once you order it, you have to send THEM the six keys you want in the Keyholder, and they’ll put them in. I can only assume from this that there is some sort of proprietary key-integration system, meaning that if you want to change a key, you can’t just go to the hardware store and do it for 5 bucks. How do they get away with all this? It’s a ‘limited edition,’ of course.

[ Keyport ] VIA [ NOTCOT ]