Have a look at the bitcoin users map:
http://i.imgur.com/WfNa4.pngIt might be that we nearly exhausted the supply of early adopters in Europe and USA. Now we either have to establish a real market so the early majority can join in to buy goods for Bitcoins, or we can hope that the Asian press (mainly in Japan, China, India) notices Bitcoin thus drawing their early adopters in.
Indeed. Bitcoin must go from theory to practice. Other experiments will follow, but it's doubtful that any other virtual currency scheme will have the mettle to withstand the attacks and scrutiny that bitcoin can endure.
