Next will do just fine with the players who were underwhelmed with what 4e brought to the table. I know a lot of people who were very disappointed that the game went in something of a MMO direction, rather than continuing and improving on what 3.5 was. 4e brought in new players, at the expense of many of the older ones. Now though, Next is coming back toward what 3.5 and previous editions were. Yes, I agree it does leave hard-core 4e players out in the cold, but 3.5 and 4e are so different that they are basically different games. There's almost no way to make something that will appeal to fans of both.
I think the "apathy" that the OP speaks of is more a waiting by the fandom to see what we get this time. It's not that nobody cares, but more that those that do care aren't going to say much (except for those who just like to complain about everything) until they get the finished product. It's a more cautious approach. That, and perhaps they've found some other version of the system they like, and are less focused on the newest version of D&D. I have a very small sample size, but the Encounters group that I run at my local store actually really likes Next, and some of them started their roleplaying careers in 4e.
I'm going to say the same thing I said when 4e was coming out: Wait and see. Play it before you judge it. Who knows, it very well might be the revelation that 3e was when it debuted. It could also bomb badly. I was all for 4e before it came out, and once it did, it quickly became my least favorite version of the game (though my home group played from beginning to end of its run, because it was the edition that was current), though my group and I did have some fun with it.