I don't get how Apple can code this stuff in such a short space of time,
Rumours circulated when Apple released the A4, so i wouldn't be suprised if its been in the works since around then (in various forms). But you have to remember it's still in Beta and if it ends being like the PowerVR/Intel transition then it could take many years before performance, in the 'suite' applications, ends being equivalent/better to x86/x64 - it was painful when i worked in studios using ProTool's on new Intel systems; made G5's feel like supercomputers!
I’m a little concerned because I still have a handful of Windows apps that I need to run from time to time via a VM.
Emulation, only way they can do it without adding x86/x64 instruction sets. Be interesting to see what the performance will be like though...
...Intel must have lost a big chunk of change from losing Apple
Probably but Intel have fingers in a lot of pies, especially the server market and workstations, so i'm sure they'll be perfectly fine.
I'd expect this to start with an all new low power Macbook in the fall and scale up from there.
They'll start lower end, so i suspect an Air and/or a basic Macbook as that's where their own SOC makes sense (Apple control aside), ie - battery performance.
I'm still not convinced with anything "Pro" related where users need pure grunt but no one will know until developers get dev kits and leaked benchmarks appear.