Bitcoins are a great consumer currency at this point, considering that it's possible to generate them out of thin air makes it attractive to get. It's like getting an allowance as a kid-you do some(relatively) trivial work, and get some money from it. The problem is that it won't always be this way, especially when the mining stops.
Normal currencies have a cyclical economy. A consumer gets money from their job, then spends it somewhere. The money goes up the supply chain, eventually getting to a bank, which loans it out to a business, who then pays employees. Bitcoins currently are only used in the first transaction, then exchanged for USD or other currency. They are acquired by consumers in two ways: mining them, or buying them from a Bitcoin exchange. After the mining phase ends(or becomes prohibitively expensive), you won't be able to conjure up BTC from thin air. The only way for a consumer to get BTC is to buy them from an exchange, since the overwhelming majority of people aren't going to actually be paid by their job in BTC. Also, since it's doubtful that ISPs or hosting providers will accept BTC, the sellers need to exchange their BTC for USD to pay their bills. So, in the end, this means that the only ones that really win in this economy are the BTC-USD exchanges.
bitcoin is not longer practically generatable without specialized hardware and specialised software. i.e. If you download the bitcoin client and start mining bitcoins, it'll take years before you get your first set.
Normal currencies have a cyclical economy. A consumer gets money from their job, then spends it somewhere. The money goes up the supply chain, eventually getting to a bank, which loans it out to a business, who then pays employees. Bitcoins currently are only used in the first transaction, then exchanged for USD or other currency. They are acquired by consumers in two ways: mining them, or buying them from a Bitcoin exchange. After the mining phase ends(or becomes prohibitively expensive), you won't be able to conjure up BTC from thin air. The only way for a consumer to get BTC is to buy them from an exchange, since the overwhelming majority of people aren't going to actually be paid by their job in BTC. Also, since it's doubtful that ISPs or hosting providers will accept BTC, the sellers need to exchange their BTC for USD to pay their bills. So, in the end, this means that the only ones that really win in this economy are the BTC-USD exchanges.