1) Bitcoins do not have a known rate of inflation. The demand to hold units of a currency and the quantity of that currency determine its value together. In the limit, where the quantity of bitcoins in circulation is near the limit, so producing more is very expensive, the demand to hold bitcoins is the primary thing influencing the value of bitcoins.
2) The reason mainstream economists think that the quantity of dollars is important is for business cycle reasons, rather than the divisibility of money. Roughly: prices are sticky, so changes in the demand for money relative to the quantity of money have real effects. more.
Though not yet an "official" project, Google has released a Bitcoin client. As you may remember, there were concerns here about what the government/legal reaction to Bitcoin [1] will be, and the significance of certain groups lending their support to it. EFF and SIAI accept Bitcoin donations, which helps, and this action by Google is another big step.
Previous articles: SIAI accepting Bitcoin donations, Discussion on making money with Bitcoin (Clippy warning on the latter)
[1] In short, it's an anonymous P2P crypto-currency with no transaction fees, in which new units are generated by spending computer cycles computing hashes until you find one with specific properties.