I would REALLY love it if you can use the device to sign messages as well! I could use it to verify my identity online securely as well. Like a secure pgp key but using Bitcoin private keys to sign the message.
so now all a thieves has to do is find someone with a huge bitcoin wallet. sniff out their ip, reverse lookup ther vpn to find there real address, narrow down your location, come and take you hostage at gun point and force you to give over your "hardware wallet" usb. this makes bitcoin no different than real money now in my opinion.
1) You can't just find out the IP of some wallet (without asthonishing effort). You can't reverse-lookup the ip to a home adress (without the law on your side).
2) Explain me how you would give up your hardware wallet at gunpoint, but would refuse to give up your software wallet at gunpoint. As he already knows the balance you have.
The hardware thingie protects you from malicious software, no matter if its a trojan horse on your own computer, or a non-trusted, maybe public computer. That's all. For everything else there are different, better solutions.
Ente