What happened to the iPod Mini, and will it happen again?

And more importantly, will the same thing happen to the iPad Mini?

This thought came to me the other day and I started to wonder about Apple's product strategy. They've made some amazing hardware, but they've never been afraid to give up on a design. This has happened on a number of occasions.

• iPod Mini - Released in 2004 and 2005 but not kept, and replaced by the Nano
• iPod Nano - 7 different designs with features in all of them removed and changed from one generation to the next

So will this be the fate of the iPad Mini? Will it (and even the touch) be replaced by an iPad Nano, a merged version of the new mini and the existing touch? I'm not saying that Apple shouldn't experiment with designs and ideas, but I just think it's worth noting that nothing stays still for long in the Apple hardware ecosystem.