How would this be any different than what the guardian (and other phone SW projects) are developing, other than shipment of a phone preloaded with your flavor of Android OS? (And perhaps also offering IMEI/SIM cell service?) As opposed to the user flashing Android-ROM-OS into any compatible phone and choosing their service. Thus, save that convenience, why?
We *are* using some of the Guardian Project's software. Also software that we're building for Blackphone will be available for other people to use on their own ROMs. And heck, you can go to Github, get the Silent Circle apps and put them on your own device. We're finally to the point that we've QA'ed people who aren't us building them and using them. (And if you can't, it's a bug.) Let me answer your question with a question. What's the difference between going to a restaurant as opposed to going to the grocery store and buying a bunch of ingredients and making the same meal? There are groups devoted to making food the way the Child or Keller might. You can't have a meal by Child because she's gone, but you could make a Keller meal as well as Keller's people can. Why go to the restaurant? Now to comment on that line of both our questions, we all have a set time in this existence and some people might like to write their own compilers so they can write their own software, just as some people grow their own food so they can make their own meals. But some people don't want to do that, and every single one of us trades off the things we want to do against things we're happy to pay other people to do.
This question shouldn't imply such products aren't needed.
No offense taken. I may be a smartass, but I like tough questions.
Note some open phone HW projects are selling hardware to which you apply your droid SW rom. Though we're likely at least a handful of years away from seeing a genuinely 'open design' baseband HW layer in a phone, they are talking about approaching it.
If/when they do, I'd love to see it. I don't have time to make an open, secure baseband, but want to include one. The world needs one. Maybe we can arrange some sort of trade. Jon