I know that there was discussion earlier (a week or so back) of how POS services won't care about how fast a coin can confirm as Bitcoin is already way faster than bank clearing houses. However, I seriously think they're missing the point. When currency is truly decentralized, we won't need, nor do we want POS services or any of the current banking infrastructures. Well, at least in my dreams, we won't have them.
Anyone who says that is either being disingenuous or simply misses the point. Once a merchant transmits card information to their payment processor, a hold is placed on that customer's credit card and the merchant is *guaranteed* to receive their money, no matter what.
When BTC or any non-DRK crypto is sent, merchants have to wait for a sufficient number of confirmations before they can be confident the transaction is (and will remain) valid.
When you accept BTC from Joe Blow and deliver the goods with zero confirmations, you are assuming a great deal of counterparty risk. With credit cards, your counterparty risk is essentially nil, given that you are dealing with some of the biggest companies in the world.
The trade-off is centralization and fees. DRK's IX system solves both those problems. It's instant, just like credit cards, but with extremely low fees, proven anonymity, and no centralization or counterparty risk.