Do you all think that software makers will eventually just do intel builds?

[caveman_uk]

I'm also wondering though... is the result from a Universal Binary just as good as making the app Intel Native only from the ground up?

If it's a cocoa app then there's pretty much no difference as the frameworks hide nearly all of the hardware intricacies from you - you rarely write with a processor type in mind. For other languages and APIs then, yes, there maybe compromises made that don't do things 'the best way' for a particular processor type. There's a lot to be said for having a single codebase that works well enough on both processors rather than two separate codebases that get you a few percent extra speed. More lines of code means more testing, more QA, more maintenance and more expenditure.

It also worth bearing in mind that for most apps the devs have an existing product for PowerPC - rewriting from the ground up is probably going to be out of the question. Too much time and effort; too little to be gained.