this made too much sense to me... so I pulled the trigger on an Air 64GB WiFi+Cellular (space grey). Will keep my original Mini, and wait for the next Mini Retina (Mini 3), which if history is any indication, will be in a new enclosure, while iPad 6 (Air 2) will keep the same form factor for another cycle.
Says delivery on Nov 11. Hopefully it shows up sooner. Regardless - I'll consider it an early b-day present - which how I kinda justified to myself.
Thank you for pointing out the evolution-of-enclosure cycle for mini vs. Air -- effectively bulletproofing my rationalization of yesterday's decision to go for the Air. Same one Peligro has: white, 64GB, VZW.
I have a mini 1st-gen wi-fi only, and love the portability (downsized from the short-lived iPad 3, version 1 with cellular). Have been doing the Air-vs-retina Mini dance since the announcement.
Have to go back to LTE support from wi-fi only, so I had already decided to get one of the new ones. Planned to wait for retina mini, until I stopped in Apple store yesterday to play with the Air ("to play with"= decision to buy-unless-I-hate-the-Air. And who hates the Air, right?). As much as I LOVE the smaller mini form factor, using the Air after a year with the Mini is like dessert for my 40 yr-old eyes. Not just any dessert, but reeeeaallly good dark chocolate. With caramel on top.
With the smaller, lighter full-size, the Air may be the sweet spot for me. I use my mini for work, with a Shark clamshell keyboard, and it works, but using the Air is like being able to breathe again- when I didn't realize I was gasping (still have keyboards from the iPad 3, so no re-buying needed there). I will also keep the 1st gen Mini, so the portability option will remain. By the time of the NEXT iteration of the mini (thank you, LCW), I will know whether I want to go back down in size or stick with the Air. Or, by that time, perhaps keep both :-D. So far, I am loving the Air.
Thank you for the rationalization, LCW- and Happy Birthday!