Ethereum Q&A: Ether, ICOs, and Securities

Is ether considered an initial coin offering and/or security token, considering its initial pre-sale and the popular use cases of the ether token on the platform? Does one necessarily imply the other? How strong is the case that it is a utility token? How do you evaluate these projects? What is the short-term versus long-term trend for tokenisation for investment, loyalty points, and product / service accessibility?