A GUI is of critical importance for the next level of adoption.  Monero's current UX is something akin to a "tech preview".  It's for early adopters.

We're all here because we know the technology is fantastic.  It's so fantastic that it's easy to evangelize.  Up until the point where you have to actually *do* something with it.

I know lots of people who *could* use the current CLI.. but it's chore to them.  Their first response to our current wallet is "Ugh...maybe later when I have more time...".  Me?  I have the time *and the interest* because I think we have something awesome here.

Take my dad.  He's installed Linux on his own.  He could probably fire up a terminal, open two tabs, run the daemon in one and the client in another.  But he's not going to do that.  It's a *chore* for him.  If I send him some Monero, he's not even going to check his balance for a while.  Perhaps he will when he wants to shapeshift the Monero into BTC so he can buy a gift card on Gyft. 

But he would be much more apt to do so if he had a GUI running...perhaps it's always running...with a tray icon...and he gets a popup notification when he receives something.  THAT is what we need.

And greater adoption means greater demand.  And the supply is dwindling...so supply and demand = a price increase.