No, it's a perfectly valid example of a case where Apple shipped something that was worse than what it had been shipping.

Also, it's a good example of how Apple's management is still able to recognize mistakes and try new ways, even if that means slaughtering an employee who significantly contributed to their top position in the market (Forstall).

Microsoft's fallout with Sinofsky is an interesting parallel to say the least.

So what, this should have influenced their decisions on the iPad Mini ?

Even if there were some issues with Apple Maps, I don't see why that would have an impact on the feature set of the iPad mini.