I was thinking about this the other day. I remember being in the Apple store in Liverpool about 2 months ago and I distinctly remember hearing the following: "Do you have any of the new iPads in?" several times over the space of about 30 minutes (I was playing with MacBook Airs).
Come to think of it there were several other products people asked for as "the new X".
It is pretty cool. No product name obsolescence. You go in to a store you ask for the new product, they give it to you.
You either have the new one or the old one.
I predict the iPad series will only ever now be known as iPad and The New iPad. I also believe they will do it for more products the next being The New iPhone.