If you already qualified for the free tier, you will still be able to have access to it, so it is not only for new customers but also for existing customers that qualified
I am not sure it makes me happy either.
In any case, I am a bit sad I no longer apply to the free tier.
It's the same feeling you have when you see your mobile provider has great offers, as long as you are a first time buyer or if you are switching providers. But existing users... not so much.
I know what the end goal is for Amazon, but in the mean time I've just paid last month about $250 to reserve an instance for an year while new users get two micro instances for free.