Your questions demonstrate that you have done your research in terms of the requirements needed for a coin's success. Several weeks ago I was at a similar point in my education when I discovered a coin, that although not well known or marketed, had strengths too monumental to deny.

When Satoshi vanished unexpectedly in 2010, he was in the process of making Bitcoin more secure. Unfortunately, Gavin rattled his cage and the world's greatest living developer flew the coop. After his disappearance, a young Canadian with similar skills decided to pick up where Satoshi had left off and quietly complete his unfinished cryptographic masterpiece.

Although not highly publicized, a portion of his work can be seen in the Goldcoin (GLD) github, where he openly published a solution to the 51% riddle that had baffled Satoshi for so long. This spring he intends to release an updated version of his unique 51% defense system, along with a complete rewrite and multi-threaded improvement to Satoshi's original bitcoin codebase.

So, if somehow this struggling coin could manage to secure the missing "marketing" puzzle piece, I feel this alternative currency could give bitcoin a run for its money over the years to come.