Hopefully, some optimized apps start showing up prior to K8L. It would be disappointing to have an untapped competitive advantage that gets neutralized by the competition as soon as developers start tapping it.
The important thing for Intel is that NGMA is kicking ass and taking names right out of the starting gates using existing software AND is priced to be accessible to the mainstream. You cannot say the same about netburst's introduction with Willamette on Rambus chipsets. :-O
That gets people really excited about the platform and attracts top developers who become interested in seeing what this puppy can reallly do. This buzz is what Intel sorely lacked in the 31 stage netburst era and AMD really cleaned up in large part by default. Now Intel has the shiny new awesome thing. The K8's lustre fades from more than simply being way behind in benchmarks and running hotter - it is yesterday's news.
I don't think AMD management and most AMD enthusiasts fully comprehend how much and how quickly things have changed. The next 12 months are going to be something to behold!