I call BS on Apple simply letting the cMBP linger. There are three possibilities for it, and lingering isn't one of them:
1 - Price drop. Seems most likely to me -
The easiest way to do that is to let the specs linger. Apple is going to get a better deal on pricing from Intel on the now much less popular v2 (Ivy Bridge ) CPUs than for v3 ( Haswell). They can pass that lower cost along as lower priced cMBP 13".
I'm not sure lingering was meant to cover all aspects including pricing.
If cMBP 13" dropped to $999 that would help them get their laptop sales back on a higher growth path. ( they'd be squeezing price out of more components than just CPU though).
But frankly that is a bad sign for long term prospects. It is evidence that Apple is loosing grip on their value offering.
2 - Spec Bump.
Given the mini shares major components ( CPU , drives , etc. ) with the MBP 13" that makes alot more sense. It may be that the cMBP 13" lingers a bit until the mini also gets bumped later in the year. ( Not sure Intel is releasing the v3 part that the mini and a suitably enhanced cMBP 13" needs right away). Initially it may look like the cMBP got left behind but it would leapfrog later in the year.
3 - Killed.
While possible, it doesn't seem very probable. The fact that a high fraction of customers are choosing the cMBP 13" over the MBA 13" and rMBP 13" seems a huge bozo move to kill off one of your best selling ( if not the best selling Mac) for other Mac which can't compete with another Mac let alone other PC offerings. If Mac sales were still on a higher than industry average growth path that would be moderately risk move, but they aren't. Mac growth is way off what it has been for last 2-3 years. It is wrong time to kill of products people are voting with the pocketbooks as being the correct ones to sell.