And considerably less real estate than the iPad.
Haha, yes. Correct.
What country do you live in that it's a crime or unheard of for one to change his/her mind about something given new evidence?
The idea that Apple (and it's fans) are hypocrites because Jobs flip flopped on a smaller tablet and the mini has been so popular is ludicrous. Truth is, the mini is simply an excellent tablet. I love mine. Though I do go back and forth on it, given my primary use (now that I have an MBA) is for videos/TV watching. Depending on how heavy the iPad 5 is (and its overall footprint and form factor), I may decide to switch back to the regular size.
Anyways.....the title of this thread is ridiculous enough without the slew of redundant "Apple fans are hypocrites", "Google is beating Apple at its own game", "I wonder if comments would be different if Apple were the ones releasing the 'state-of-the-art' tablet".....
Until Android offers a decent tablet experience (tablet optimized apps), Apple will continue to be the best - specs be damned.
That being said, I don't know if I ever believed there wouldn't be a retina mini this fall, but to think that Apple will NOW create a retina mini, if it wasn't already their plan, for the fall because of the Nexus 7 is ignorant. Production lines have already begun and at this point, it wouldn't be possible to swap out for an entirely new display AND ramp up production to the numbers Apple needs for distribution in the fall.
If we see a retina mini in the fall, it was ALWAYS going to be that way.