There is a TON of potential for the Steem blockchain, most of which hasn't even been conceived, IMO.
Time will tell whether the potential is captured or not, but, with the recent inflow of attention (money) into Steemit, I believe the odds are growing that it will. It will only continue to grow if the price of Steem continues its recent rise. The greater the price of Steem, the greater the incentive to build a killer app for it.
Should Steem get a sufficiently high market cap, all the greatest devs are going to be flocking here to compete for their own piece of the pie. This will lead to a positive loop of killer apps and more competition to create the next = big time valuation for Steem.
That is my impression also. That is, if things go well.