Apple faithful rushed to get one, standing in lines for hours and spending anywhere from $499 for a 16GB WiFi-only version to $829 for a 64GB WiFi-plus-cellular version. Three million New iPads were sold over the launch weekend. All tallied, Apple has sold 100 million iPads in two-and-a-half years.

Customer euphoria, however, didn't last very long.

Last week, Apple unveiled the fourth-generation iPad with little fanfare, drowned out by the . The fourth-generation iPad boasts a faster chip and a "lightning" connector yet costs the same as the New iPad, which, we're assuming, can now be called the third-generation iPad.

Third-generation iPad customers heard it loud and clear. They had paid for an iPad with only months of shiny shelf-life, whereas Apple normally trots out new iPads and iPhones once a year. A flash poll of 1,427 Apple consumers conducted by found that 41 percent had bought a third-generation iPad. Of those, 83 percent said they felt "cheated" by the announcement.

So why would Apple drop a fourth-generation iPad bombshell? The short answer: The iPad upgrade wasn't big but a necessary one, both technically and strategically.