Perhaps we are all missing the point, after all we tend to think of applicability in our own sphere of experience. Clearly this technology will not be outperforming turbofans anytime soon. But as a drone ?
Remember well that the predator/reaper met stiff resistance in traditional flying circles during the early days, until those on high realized that it had the ability to linger in an area of interest for 20+ hours. A developed version of this technology could be put to a similar use. Whilst it would be nice to think of benign applications, were I to place a small wager it would go on a military role.