Bitcoin's competition is only itself because it needs to surpass it's current state even more because it still in the stage of development and acceptance despite countries started using it as payment for e-commerce and commerce or just regular payment. Altcoins will be treated as underlings as long as btc exist.
Correct, for bitcoin there is only one point of reference and that is bitcoin itself, no other coin is at the same place, even if there are some other good coins in the market, there is no coin that has the adoption, popularity or the appreciation of the community that bitcoin has and to be honest I do not think we are going to see another coin at the top of the market anytime soon.