Bitcoin needs killer apps, things that are only now possible due to Bitcoin. Open Bazaar might be one. ChangeTip type things another.
Wholeheartedly agreed. A good example of that is being able to pay in places where traditional payment methods create a privacy concern. For example in some european country, being able to pay via NFC as your board a train (swipe and go) was abandoned because it was deemed illegal - would allow to track who goes where fine grained. Had they used bitcoin, problem solved.
*BUT*, and that's exactly the point I'm trying to make, unless we go and compete head to head with the easier payment methods out there, such as the chinese equivalents of paypals and paypal itself (who's sorely in need of stiff competition to start offering better services), we are never going to leave that niche where only bitcoin can live. And the problem is : that niche is *small*.
This is cool indeed.
And from the presentation in OP, half of these "emerging markets" are using standard websites like instagram, facebook... They don't need special tools, they use the same things us in the "developed" world use.
Competing with the PayPals (or Chinese equivalent) is not really useful. Those apps are good! Instead you need to go where they cannot go.
And with Bitcoin any kid can make the next big financial or money using app. It's just a matter of time.
This is where I disagree with you. The one thing that Facebook should have taught anyone working in the digital economy, it's that once something has mushroomed to getting more than 90% of the market, they damn near undisplaceable (even if they're not a particularly brilliant product - fb never was). I'm worried that by the time this bitcoin killer app comes about, it will face an enormous barrier to entry. Whereas if bitcoin tries to move to the emerging market space first, its natural advantages will make it a damn sure winner.