I keep hearing this. Can you give an example of a non-contrived use case that the world currently (1) needs and (2) lacks adequate solutions for as is?
Feeless transactions. IOTA
Fog/Mist computing. SNM, Golem
Decentralized marketplaces. Many, syscoin is my favorite.
Identity tracking for IOT. Centralized solutions might exist, but WTC and the like are interesting.
Decentralized governance. DASH, Lisk, more
Banking the unbankable - Airfox, VVToken, likely others
More efficient advertisement - BAT, AdEx
Paying content creators - Steem
Distributed file storage - FileCoin, MaidSafe, Storj
Uncensorable internet - zencash
BTC gets all the press for first mover advantage, but is really the worst of the bunch.
This is not investment advice. It is quite exciting, however.
You know, the BlackBerry? That smartphone that did everything that an iPhone could do, just a bit worse?
Steve Jobs didn't exactly envision the iPhone wholesale, on the seventh day of Genesis.