I think fees will get cheaper as times goes by and the bitcoin network and market matures but it is very hard to say right now with the current transaction size limitations.
Bitcoin is still in early development and very niche, so far the incentives have been working well enough but once the block rewards halves is yet to be seen if fees will be competitive enough and whether the price for them will go up. We also have to hope that the block size and the network capacity can grow fast enough to support its own weight.
In general I think that as more players come in the industry the fees of exchanges, atms, debit cards etc will decrease.
I wish some core developer could also contribute to answer your question and provide more insight than i can offer.
If the wild success of M-Pesa is any indication, then the traditional finance industry will reach the next billion consumers well before an obscure technology like Bitcoin will.
Given that M-PESA is run by a telephone company, is it the traditional financial industry or not? It can be argued both ways. SafariCom effectively runs a bank, but it is nonetheless primarily a technology company.
I would guess so. It's unlikely that big, stable telco companies get created without banks.
Edit: and also, BrokenPipe, I'd really like to hear your thoughts on my original question since you are the author here...