Crypto-currency fragmentation, should we be worried?

[HCP]

Yeah, what I was initially concerned about, was with so many altcoins floating around, that merchants (aka. goods and service providers), money exchangers etc might be hesitant to enter the crypto currency world and therefore delay accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment because there were so many alternatives.

However, it seems like there are actually very few altcoins that make it past the pump and dump stage, and fewer still that are traded for fiat... with, as pointed out by the various folks here, most altcoins are really only traded on their own gambling site and/or for bitcoins.

There is a real lack of goods and services that can be purchased in my local area/country using Bitcoins, and I'd like that to change... it all just seems to be "Bitcoin exchanges" which isn't that helpful. 

[Doamader]

Not being negative or against new coins, but the most ico coming is just to the developers get your bitcoins, as they make a new coin make ico collect 5 btc for each btc and let the coin die almost instant, some coins hold 3 months and are pumped, but the most usually dies.

[Snorek]

Not being negative or against new coins, but the most ico coming is just to the developers get your bitcoins, as they make a new coin make ico collect 5 btc for each btc and let the coin die almost instant, some coins hold 3 months and are pumped, but the most usually dies.

That is the general idea. 99% altcoin developers is not creating something better or unique. They are cloning existing code, tweaking it a little. They know it won't last long.
Currently we have over 650 altcoins created, most of them are cheaper that dust and never will be anything better. Worrying about them is like worrying that you step on some ants when you walk.

[Nevis]

So, being relatively new to Bitcoin and crypto-currency in general, I have been looking around at all these "altcoins" that have sprung up following the relative success of Bitcoin... I assume because the value went from mere cents to ~US$650 per Bitcoin, so those who missed the Bitcoin boat are trying to launch new currencies to emulate that success and make $$$ 

My questions relate to the possible fragmentation of the crypto-currency segment with all of these altcoins popping up and what this may mean for crypto-currency in general.

For starters, it seems like there is a new "ICO" popping up every other week, each new altcoin possibly fragmenting the market that little bit more. Do we really need more than one crypto-currency? What are the advantages of "altcoins"?  Do they offer any real benefits above Bitcoin? If so, what are they? Because I don't see the point, other than to create an artificial trading market?? 

Altcoins are just a copy of bitcoins its primary reason is for income. Bitcoin has shown the world that there is money in cryptocurrency, its a multi-billion business. Companies wanted to grab the opportunity to earn billions and the trick is to make a copy of bitcoins to earn big. But I am not saying that altcoins has no benefits to bitcoin users. Altcoins can be the substitute for bitcoin when it will breakdown.