I don’t think the focus will only be on dapps. Perhaps thousands of communities, with owners, admins, ability to pin posts, mute posts etc will put many more people than just dapp owners the ownership mentality and look out for the growth of these communities. I do think communities will have SMTs too even without a dapp, looking at the structure of communities on betasteemit.

Another thing that may help price is it being the base currency or pair against smt like btc is. Plus I foresee people coming from outside too, to make use of a decentralized exchange perhaps to hold or trade steem or SMTs that have gain popularity.

Another incentive to buy steem is for claiming accounts. Accounts may not seem so valuable now but it can grow valuable. Even in recent times it has grown more valuable. One steem account accessing hundreds of dapps.