Apple's Thin End of the Wedge?

When Apple founder Steve Jobs first launched the Intel processor Macs, he made a big deal of the Universal Binary - the same application would run identically (speed issues aside) on Intel and PowerPC based Macs. It comes as a surprise, therefore, that the new support for AVCHD import into Final Cut Pro only works on Macs equipped with Intel processors. This is unlikely to be the end of the world for most FCP users, but does it signal a change in the ethos that Apple's development for PowerPC and Intel Macs will continue to run in parallel?

Either the Intel only support is accidental - they wanted to get the AVCHD support out before it was optimised for PowerPC - in which case we can expect the next release to add the feature, or it was deliberate...

Of course, Apple want us to buy more Macs, but customers tend to rankle at being told to update perfectly good hardware. That was the genius of the Universal Binary - sure, everyone is going to move over to Intel Macs eventually, but in the mean time we don't feel cheated that the new product line immediately obsoletes the old.

By the next release we'll know which of these possibilities is true - either PowerPC users will get AVCHD import or, maybe, Intel Mac users will get a few more unique features. Which bet is your money on?