Money is what money does. To be a currency Bitcoin must widely be used as a means of payment (just like the US dollar), that is, for buying and selling real goods. Right now, it is mostly used as a vehicle for speculation ("buy low sell high")...
In this way, it is no more than a speculative financial asset, but not a currency, by any means
There are some major retailers that accept Bitcoin- Steam (games),Newegg.com (computer parts), Overstock.com.
And with companies like Coinbase working with retailers to help them accept payments that you fund in BTC, you can actually buy a decent amount of things.
But I agree. It's still mainly an asset for speculation. That's why the price isn't moving much right now IMO.
We need more retailers, or another online service like iTunes etc to start accepting Bitcoin if we want to see growth continue and the value rise.