There are some valuable points in this thread, but getting back down to the basics as seen by most other people in the populus...
(a) you can't buy bitcoins easily
Even despite my unhealthily messianic enthusiasm for Bitcoin, I still don't really know where to buy bitcoin since CoinPal died, without going onto an exchange which I don't especially want to do.
(b) you can't trade bitcoins easily.
But this encapsulates the spirit of what I think is needed more than anything..
Seriously, it's only going to take an easy to use smartphone app to go viral to send bitcoin skywards. As long as it checks the market, uses a barcode scanner, has a secure wallet, and is fast, we will have a useful ninja currency.
If we can get a couple of basics done like this, and people can get bitcoins then go out and buy lunch in Meze Grill as easily as they can with a credit card, we'll be getting closer.
We need to be able to buy them easily, store them securely, exchange them with smartphones. The Steve Jobs touch. Nothing special. Steve Job didn't invent the mp3 player, he opened up the public's imagination to see the mp3 player in its correct light.
Yes we need all of the other applications and infrastructure and cool sites, but we haven't got close to getting the basics right yet. If we do, the magic of Bitcoin will shine of itself.