When you shaft iPad 3 owners don't expect them to return for another round so quickly.
Shaft them how? The iPad 3 is a great tablet. I'm not aware of any issues with it. Don't whinge just because it hasn't been a year since it was released. Sheesh!
I have every flagship product Apple has produced, but I would never buy a non-Retina iPad mini. Since iPhone 4 there's been no going back. There won't ever be. I'd lose my mind
That was my main concern, being non-retina, as I'd want it partly for reading web articles, so crispness of text is important. But having played with it, I have no problem with it; the reduced size squeezes the pixels anyhow and the text is quite crisp. But I'm sure the next iteration will get Retina.
I've never had an iPad, I've always felt it wasn't right for me somehow, and for reading it was too heavy to hold without resting on a table or your legs. With this, I feel they've hit a sweet spot for me; I can really seem me using it and being a permanent fixture on our coffeetable for reading articles and books and of course Facebook on the couch and checking up on the TV guide. The weight is good. I'd prefer Retina and a lower price, but I have no qualms about getting one.
As for price, it's the usual for Australia that closeness to Asia ought to make transport cheaper, and the exchange rate is in our favour and has been for some time since our economy isn't a basketcase unlike the rest of the Western world, yet it is more expensive here. Still affordable, but it should be cheaper. Below $300, and it would be virtually an impulse buy.