Just to make life easier for folks looking for the answer:
import Vue from 'vue/dist/vue.js'
import App from './App.vue'
new Vue({
el: '#app',
render: h => h(App)
})
From the author — 2.0 standalone build means (compiler + runtime). The default export of the NPM package will be runtime only, because if installing from NPM, you will likely pre-compile the templates with a build tool.