People complain the Mini is too expensive and you wanted them to have an even more expensive retina Mini? I don't think even Apple could withstand the bashing that would come from such a move. They had 2 choices: either sell this Mini now or wait until they could launch a retina Mini later(early 2013 at best) losing the Christmas season and the high demand for iPads.
That makes no sense,you'd have a more complex assembly line for less profit and let's face it they wan't the money,I think they might do what you're saying of the non-retina/retina lineup after they launch the retina-mini selling the regular Mini at a lower price(a la iPad 2/iPad with retina display) or just keep the next Mini and stop selling the previous one(iPad->iPad 2)
Sit down and have a glass of ice water
. What you said made absolutely no sense given how well the mini is selling now. This is a rant that make sense before the sales started. You may think it is overprice and won't buy one. But there are enough buyers who want Ipad mini and it is supply constrained. Market determine price and consumers are speaking loud and clear about their preference.
And what more complex assembly line? The parts are shipped from supplier to Foxconn factories and a retina LCD is no different than the LCD that is used in Ipad mini. Foxconn has 13 factories in China now and they are building multiple devices for multiple companies. Having one more product with different part is a piece of cake if Foxconn are given some advance planning time. That is their main business after all.
Part cost will determine what Apple will do. The LCD panel used in mini is rumored to be as expensive as the one use in Ipad 4 because of the yield problem. And Ipad mini gross margin absolutely suck. Apple management highlited the problem in the last quarter conference call. If changing to new part reduce the cost of mini, we will see a new version of mini + a new retina mini at a higher price. If the yield problem get resolve, we will see the current mini + a retina mini. If Apple find enough buyers, why should they sell the mini any cheaper just because Nexus and Kindle Fire HD are priced lower?