Eddy Cue: "I believe there will be a seven-inch market and we should do one." "I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time."
That he wasn't able to, coz he passed away, but the point stands. Jobs is famous for things like that. I remember clearly when he said there is no way anyone could make a computer that is less than 1000 bucks(when the rumor is ripe with upcoming ipad) and 6 months later releases the ipad for 500.
I was able to find this with a little Googling (no idea on the truthfulness of the article), but I could swear there was another article listing the iPad Mini as one of the last products he worked on:
(cf < 10 inch tablets, Intel chips, etc)