dtube author has said he doesn't intend to monetize dtube, and he probably will drop development of it in the not too distant future.
there are so many unanswered questions, but this is also an "unstoppable application". it can be hosted almost anywhere, it can move around, and this was recently talked about by the author in a recent post. a universal URL can provide a perm address that can't be taken down by DNS...
but it also shows the potential of stringing HPFS and STEEM together, as you say
my guess is this model will be successful, and dtube will have other competitors that end up providing these services in a more organized and technically stronger fashion
much like torrents have never been stopped, dtube, or the idea of what dtube has demonstrated, is not stoppable, and will grow over time
I would not be surprised if @ned likes it enough to just incorporate it into Steemit, but the legal issues may prevent him from doing so..
I'm happy to see DTube emerge as it shows all of the potential possibilites for the Steemit platform going forward. Should DTube continue it's success (which I'm not sure why it would not) other developers may be interested in taking it further should the original developer decide not to. I hope that the original developer has a change of heart. However, if you look at steemd.com the developer is getting 25% of the rewards for each video posted on DTube.