Great overview of some of the fantastic apps built on Steemit. I would also include utopian.io as showcase. It is an app that links Github and Steemit and is in some ways the best existing example of the next gen apps that will be built on Steemit. In my opinion this is because it links different existing services and technologies such as Github and Discord as well as standard webservices but the USP is that it's also linked to the Steem blockchain.
I think that moving to the future, some apps should be made that do not also post directly on Steemit. Currently, if you post on these apps, it goes to Steemit too. While this is fine at the moment, it may become difficult to manage when Steemit grows to a much bigger user base and many more applications are built! I’m not sure how possible this is, but it’s just a thought that I had.
The future of apps on Steemit will in my opinion be the ones that provide a wonderful UX but somehow make a link to the Blockchain. What interfaces like Steemit will need to do is figure out a way to only show relevant content. At the moment the Steemit website (and others) don't seem to filter content that intelligently and it's likely other apps and interfaces such as busy.org will be the main windows onto the Steemit Blockchain in the future. Maybe it will be possible so you wont see Zaps on busy for example.
I think we will see windows opening up that only show particular content.
- https://www.insteem.com/
This site only shows news feeds for example.