It can send a team packing, as was the case in Seattle where a deal could not be reached to replaceKey Arena and the Supersonics ultimately relocated to Oklahoma City.
For a consumer device, the BlackBerry Z10 reaches the baseline, and while it takes a little getting used to, a week or so with the smartphone and the main gestures that replace a hardware key for navigation become intuitive and easily remembered.
So before the air war against Serbia began, Javier Solana, the bubbly Spaniard whom Mr Robertson will replace, was authorised to turn the key for bombing.