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How is this different from let's say Swissbit ( http://www.swissbit.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=ar... ) or DeviceFidelity (http://www.credense.com/) or GoTrust ( http://www.go-trust.com/ ) or any generic ASSD card ( https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/ASSD/ )? Those are all programmable using JavaCard and contain secure tamper-resistant chips.

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None of those products are, to my knowledge, open source.

Vault might very well implement the ASSD specification. However, to use ASSD the OS needs to be able to send ASSD-specific low-level SD commands to the card. It would require patching the OS, and depending on the phone it might not work anyway.

Assuming Google sticks to the open source promise that will drive developer adoption. Using the standard memory interface and normal file system operations to do crypto makes it potentially compatible with just about anything. It's also easy to interface with. Everything is a file! :)

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