As I said in another thread, the word "coin" here is the problem. People see coins as small, semi-worthless denominations of a larger unit, and they also see them as somewhat non-divisible, at least not by a significant amount.
I agree with your reasoning but I believe it is the "Bit" portion that is giving people the perception of "small, semi-worthless". I'd rather not see names like Bitcent, or millibit, or anything with "bit" in it. I like the idea of naming the denominations after those who've contributed to getting Bitcoin off the ground. Like 1 mBTC could be called a Gavin. I don't really care if it is called a Gavin, just want a unique name not associated with the word bit.
And I agree, no one should ever
see the price of 1 BTC at $1,000. We should be dealing with smaller denominations before that happens.