I think the thing is that uses of NFC tags aren't and shouldn't really be expected to be individually mind blowing. It's just something that can, in aggregate, make your life more pleasant by small increments that add up.

Being able to read my balance on my clipper card with my android phone is something I miss since switching to ios. A promising thing I once used was wifi network ssid/password settings stored on an nfc tag on a wall (think restaurant).

But, really, if there's a killer app it's probably payment and it's rolling out. Pretending that it's somehow distinct from other NFC use cases is pretty silly. It's just one of the most obvious ways it can be useful.