I just wanted to comment that I agree with all of the points made below. I am a coder, and I have recently been working on user-friendly R Shiny GUI's because most users do not like the command line. wpalczynski's point is particularly important when you consider we could be talking about a significant chunk of someone's savings. Every user needs to be very confident that they won't lose their money. That is a big leap in a new area of technology.
I think us techies tend to underestimate the issue with the CLI wallet. Its not so much that people can't figure out how to use it, its not difficult and most people could. But because we are dealing with money there is apprehension about using something that is not super easy and straight forward, users might think they are more likely to screw something up and lose their funds.
a core GUI is not a compelling enough reason for regular people to start using a currency
Lack of an Official GUI is a barrier to entry for some people and businesses that would otherwise use Monero.
The "compelling" will be done by bank runs and other extreme forms of capital control.
I have to chip in on the GUI.
Using command line for many people - such as anyone non tech-savvy or, say on a Mac - is a totally foreign and too-much-to-ask chore. Some people (including me) don't like holding a lot on an exchange or in an online wallet either. For someone who cant get their head around using command line to make a wallet etc. (and dont say its so easy it isnt) it makes the project look under-developed, which is not a good reflection on how Monero is.
Yes, a killer payment app or a next generation improvement on a node /QT type wallet would be better to have, but I think not having a GUI is ammo for detractors and an excuse to leave Monero alone for many people.
No, regular people dont give a shit, true but we are still competing in the crypto currency space with just a couple of exchanges supporting XMR. We dont need to look like we dont measure up in some way.
Why no wallet? is a fair ask. Once we have one, it I think it will take away some adoption resistance and be something that helps build the projects base of long-term accumulators.