Exactly. And that's why 4E was a failed edition.
Any new edition of a game is going to pick up some percentage of the current market. But when you lose at least half your customers, I find it impossible to describe that as anything other than a failure.
Really? If ANY edition managed to pick up the crowd lost from AD&D, it could sacrifice every single current player and still be the most successful edition since AD&D.
The market is contracting, and frankly WotC is one of the few companies with the sort of name and pull to get people back. Which was the point of the OP, honestly.