I doubt it. It's just the "bad low-end model" strategy that Apple has used for a long time. You make the base model cheap, but give it some flaws that knowledgeable buyers just can't ignore. This might be a slow processor, or a slow HDD, or not enough RAM. Then you make it so the base model can't be upgraded easily. The "cheap" buyer still buys the base model, but other buyers go up-model and you make more money off of them.
Apple isn't one monolithic creature. I'm assuming that some are trying to kill it (by making it underpowered with low sales) because they can't kill it politically (it's one of Steve's babies.)
It's kinda like the old iPod. They kept making it _long_ after nobody bought one, because it was the iconic turn-around device for Apple. Cook admitted they had to stop making it because they couldn't find parts anymore.
