It appears you have questions that could use answering. The forum has many questions asked and answered, or feel free to post your own questions.
2) I can't speak for Intel, but I don't think the Edison is an attempt to get Intel's product to market, but maybe rather giving us makers an awesome powerful platform to make from in such a small form factor with wifi, Bluetooth, and many other benefits bundled together.
IMHO, I believe that it might be less desirable to have Intel water Edison down to a simple Arduino.