bitcoin and other alt currencies reward early adapters/miners as price increases. those who missed BTC windfall, are now betting on LTC while it's relatively cheap hoping for an increase down the line. FTC and others on the horizon. early adapter = money in your pocket. the only person who makes more money is the creator of an alt coin. it just makes good sense ... if you start your own coin, you're guaranteed to make money (even if it fails after 2 wks, 2 months, .. 2 yrs). as long as this is the case, I think we'll continually see more and more alt coins. I don't see an end in sight.

from what I've heard (other forums, trollbox etc), LTC should be going to Mt. Gox soon. I think that when it does, the price will increase since people will have this option to store BTC other than USD.