I agree with your point that some noticeable changes and additions need to be made to be sure Steemit is not becoming another Nokia story.
The post from @steemitblog last week was very motivating to me! I am happy to read that web developers have been hired and that development on the mobile side is planned as well.
I want Steemit and Steem to succeed and announcements like this give me confidence it will. Eventually there must be a seamless integration to the fiat world since this will become the standard for crypto currencies in general in my opinion.