Agreed. Also lighter (0.7 pounds http://www.apple.com/au/ipad/compare/). It does mess up their line-up to push the mini two generations ahead. Maybe sales were lagging? Maybe they really wanted to standardize on A7 64 bit and rogue graphics? Regardless of line-up problems, it's a fantastic device.

I think the reason to buy an iPad 2 (or indeed an iPad 5) is for the larger display.