As well, Apple's own financial data shows that many "normal" people care. They said they had material a drop in iPhone sales because of people anticipating the iPhone 5.
No, this is not true. Every single one of my wife's female friends, all non-nerds, and anxiously waiting for the next iPhone as well. They have been tempted by some of the Android phones, but they want to stick with Apple... for now.
A lot of the non-nerds I know don't even care about smartphones or know the difference between Android and iOS other than the fact that they're from different companies.
--edit--
caveat: I'm middle aged and so is my peer group.
You mean nerds' expectations. Most normal people don't even really care.