I guess you didn't hear a single leak of iPhone 6 Plus prior to launch, either. Well, there is also bunch of "6+ delaying a quarter" news ahead of the eventual launch. It is not really no leaks, anyway. The Internet is an astronomical premise that you might have always missed some stuff in the air.
You compare what people predicted with what Apple acutally did to construct your argument. Hmm, it doesn't sound fair. The market position of these two products are vastly different either: iPod touch overlaps with smartphones (as a WiFi-only version) for many years already, while iPad mini is still of its own category with key differentiators (screen size, screen aspect ratio, software). Moreover, with this logic, Apple shouldn't have rolled out two iPhones together as they will eat into each other as always. *cough*
By the way, IMO Apple starts taking iPad mini serious with the mini2. Higher price point, better display, and most importantly, the same processor as the full-size iPad. The last one is fairly important, as it means an equal ground for developers to build fluid apps. If they don't wanna make the mini better, the mini can simply stay with A6/A6X as its non-retina brother, and stand still at the original price point.