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Polkadot has struggled to gain a user base compared to other chains like Ethereum, Avalanche, and Solana, largely due to the limited number of dApps and platforms using it. In our opinion, the largest reason for this issue is the complexity of developing applications on Polkadot and the fact that smart-contracts cannot be deployed on the Polkadot layer 0 itself.
First, developers are required to dig through the Polkadot wiki, try to understand Polkadot as a Layer 0, the concept of parachains, slot auctions, and the nuances of smart contracts. For most developers, securing a parachain slot is prohibitively expensive and inaccessible. * this will soon change with coretime
Adding to this, the Polkadot relay chain doesn’t natively support smart contracts. This forces developers to deploy their applications on parachains, which often have smaller user bases and don't directly contribute to the growth of Polkadot's native DOT token. The process of developing a smart contract itself is another hurdle, requiring INK or Frontier. In it's current state, the DOT token has little function other than staking and participation in governance.
In contrast, Ethereum for example offers a simpler development experience currently. With Ethereum's Remix, developers can write, compile, and deploy Solidity smart contracts in one environment directly via the browser. This is one of the reasons Ethereum has maintained dominant. The upcoming JAM upgrade will bring some of these features from Ethereum over to Polkadot and massively overhaul Polkadot as a layer 0.
For starters, Polkadot's JAM upgrade will allow for deployment of smart contracts directly on Polkadot as a layer 0. In other words, no need to develop these smart contract applications on parachains any more, but instead directly on the Polkadot chain itself. This will bring more users and an actual use-case for the DOT token.
Polkadot will become more like a traditional smart contract chain like Ethereum.
Now, combine this with the cross-chain ability of Polkadot and the fact that JAM will be transactionless i.e. there won't be typical transactions that require gas fees to prioritize or execute them, Polkadot really has a chance of capturing a completely new user base and market by the introduction and possibility of new applications. Furthermore, these smart contracts will have no limits on the amount of code or data they can accommodate. DOT tokens will be used as 'deposits' for creating these contracts and as a sort of fee for hosting of the data and program states.
Comparing JAM to other blockchains in terms of throughput / performance, Ethereum 2.0 processes 1,3MB/s, Sui & Aptos 100 MB/s, Solana 125 MB/s. JAM targets a throughput of 850MB/s. We strongly believe most people highly underestimate what this upgrade will bring to the network.
