1. I'm waaaay late to the game - this almost kept me from buying.
Bitcoin is a brand new technology that has only been around a bit more than 8 years. Most people haven't even heard of it yet, and even less people have any or are using any. The reference client still self-identifies as "experimental" software.
You are not late to the game. You are very, very early.
The fact that most of the coins have already been mined has to be a deterrent for other newcomers, which are critical for the bitcoin to peak and momentum to continue.
Just like the way nobody has any interest in gold anymore because most of it has already been dug out of the ground? Bitcoin doesn't lose it's benefits just because it's already been "mined". It actually probably gains benefits and value as there is less new bitcoin to be mined.
I have met several people that want in, but don't want to spend 2500 for a single coin.
"A Bitcoin" is a slang term for 100,000,000 spendable units created by the person (or people) that developed the bitcoin protocol. It's a bit like how "A Benjamin" is slang for $100, or "A grand" is slang for $1000, or "A rack" is slang for $10,000. You aren't paying $2500 for "a single coin". You are paying $2500 for 100,000,000 spendable units. That's less than $0.000025 per coin.
2. Mining - after watching some videos about the farms, I realized that trying to mine my own coin would be alike to buying lottery tickets - Also a deterrent for newcomers to get involved.
Over the past 8 years, mining has grown into a very competitive business. Like any competitive business, "getting involved" is a bad idea unless you have access to some competitive advantage (such as access to inexpensive resources).
Mining is a misleading term anyhow. What miners are actually doing is processing transactions and securing the blockchain. In exchange for this service, the users pay a transaction fee and the "miners" are also rewarded with a subsidy that comes from the introduction of new value into the system (inflation).
3. I know that you can buy a fraction of a coin - but basic psychology has it where we don't want to buy fractions. We want to buy things identified as whole.
Yep. I woudn't want to put in 15 minutes of work if my employer was only going to pay me a half a grand for that time. I mean I know that it can be divided into fractions, but psychologically I don't want only a half. I want to be paid in things that are "whole", so I insist on a whole grand, or else I'd rather have nothing at all.
I'm sure there are real reasons this can't happen, but I believe assigning names/symbols to lower denominations would be a good solution for new investor encouragement.
The currency name from 36,000 feet should remain "bitcoin" - but lesser denominations should have actual identities. Remove the fraction and give it a name.
It has already happened.
Many people and services already refer to 0.001 BTC as a "milli-bitcoin" (or a milli-bit, or mBit, or milly, mBTC)
Many people and services already refer to 0.000001 BTC as a "micro-bitcoin" (or a micro-bit, or mike, or μBTC)
Many people and services already refer to the smallest spendable unit (0.00000001 BTC) as a "satoshi".
So, at $2500, you are paying just $2.50 per mBTC or only about a quarter of a cent ($0.0025) per μBTC