I just thought I'd chime in here to mention that I will be playing a level one sorcerer in a game next Saturday (May 3rd) and I will be sure to come back and let you all know how it played out. I like some of the ideas you guys came up with but have a few proverbial bones to pick.
Sorcerers need more skill points. Wizards don't, since their intelligence will always be increasing anyway, it balances out the 2 skill points per level (though frankly, I think the minimum for all classes should be 4 at least).
Also, giving sorcerers eschew materials for free as well as the ability to use metamagic without an increased casting time are both good ideas, as well as the notion of allowing bloodlines to improve spellcasting ability in some way. I've noticed that the majority of the bloodlines seem focused on giving combat abilities that are not related to spellcasting. Heck, giving sorcerers melee touch abilities at first level doesn't strike me as being a good idea, since they shouldn't be in melee combat in the first place. Especially at first level.
Finally, I'd like to mention that I don't think sorcerers are a good class for new players or those who don't have a lot of experience playing spellcasters. The reason for this is that the sorcerer is a lot less forgiving than the wizard in terms of spell selection and, as a result, a solid sorcerer requires the player to think very carefully about which spells they want to learn, which ones to swap out at which levels and really think ahead in terms of their characters career. Remember, every spell that the sorcerer picks means giving up other spells that may have been more effective in terms of the campaign, etc.
I do understand the misconception that sorcerers are "easier" than wizards, since there is a lot less information to keep track of. Remember, though, that the wizard doesn't totally hose herself if she learns a crappy or very limited use spell every now and then. The sorcerer, on the other hand, can be screwed for a couple of levels with the dead weight. In the case of a first level sorcerer, this dead weight can plague them for the first three levels.