Although the most sensible solution long-term, it does cause issues with the current exchange rate.  Even the cheapest items will be quoted in hundreds of thousands of XBT, and the exchange rate itself doesn't look quite so appealing when it's 0.000129$/XBT.

I don't see why people can't just use the units that are most appropriate to the denomination.  Use 150mBTC rather than 0.15BTC; use 20MBTC rather than 20000000BTC; use 24XBT (or 24uBTC) rather than 0.000024BTC.  Is it so hard?