They don't need to force anything: Apple will simply release the hardware and make it straightforward for developers to build fat binaries. And why wouldn't developers eagerly comply?
— The vast majority of programs will probably recompile with no changes.
— Many developers who will need to make ARM-specific optimisations will have already done that work for iOS releases. Ditto for graphics optimisations for Apple's custom graphics cores.
— For the remaining developers, the skill of optimising for Apple's ARM CPU and GPU is already mature in the marketplace.
— Most apps which don't fall under the aforementioned categories are probably high performance apps that won't be important for buyers of the smaller iMac and MacBook Air.
For a platform with a history of smooth transitions, this would be the easiest "transition" in Apple's history.
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