The smart contract model makes it useful beyond just "purchasing things" (as the unimaginative would say. Yes that's a dig at you senatorobama). The EVM (despite it's implementation flaws) makes it's uses practically limitless.

Bitcoin...is an impractical, user-unfriendly first mover. Ethereum is the flawed second mover (ok, I'm discounting all the silly coins in between). I'm honestly not sure who the ultimate winner is. Unless the Bitcoin or Ethereum community fundamentally changes, it likely won't be them.