Really Victorinox? Really? You're putting a flash drive in your knives now? You are the knife company! You've got history and reputation! Why are you diluting your brand, which has recognition and good will among the entire world's outdoor community, with a superfluous tool that is prone to breaking under any of the circumstances that a real Swiss Army aficionado would have to use their knife in.
You wouldn't see Gerber, or Wenger, or Leatherman putting a flash drive in their tools because they know that such additions are about as useless to a serious outdoorsman as a hole in the head.
But this knife isn't for outdoorsmen, it's for the businessman who needs a little pen knife in his pocket for cleaning his nails or fixing a stapler. Why not combine this needed knife with the other item in his pocket, a flash drive. This knife even has a laser pointer in it for doing presentations.
I'm sure that catering to the business set is highly lucrative for Victorinox. Their Swiss Army Watches have entered the realm of mid-level luxury timepieces like Seiko, and good for them. But just as performance sporting goods have become en-vogue fashion statements, and diluted the integrity of brands like Northface and Patagonia in the eyes of real outdoorsmen, I worry that this catering to the business class will sully Swiss' brand integrity.
Heck, it already has with me. I'll stick with my Gerber and Leatherman thank you very much.
I'm sure that Edward Abbey would have something far more humorous, biting and insightful about this subject. But he died 20 years ago and had better things to write about even then, so I guess that this will have to do.
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