It's in response to bold. It doesn't just happen with Nintendo's audience, there is a vaster number of young users of the ios devices, and the same applies to them, which makes it a double standard to apply it to Nintendo's devices and not to Apple's.

However, I will agree that the revisions in the iPads cause less backwards incompatibility since content is usually supported as the device increments upwards. That's true. And that's the only point one can make.

At the same time, a parent can very well return the gift in exchange for a 3DS if need be. This isn't a show-stopper imho and is truly the fault of sales clerks who don't take the time to inform people of the differences.

True, since the 3DS games are not compatible with DS games, Nintendo has to be more careful than Apple in ensuring customers choose the right product, but to be completely fair, what's the difference between DS2 and 2DS? or DS3 and 3DS?

To make a big deal out of this and put it on the "blame Nintendo" list is grasping at straws, imho.

Again the significance is in the audience base. I'm sure a lot kids ask for Ipads/iphones but I'd quite confidently say they the amount them that actually get given these devices are a tiny minority of apples sale, so its insignificant whether there is confusion with those devices or not. The same can't be said for nintendo. This isn't a "nintendo is doomed" thread, just stating that this is probably partly responsible for the fact that the DS outsold the 3DS during black friday. Also nintendo obviously are somewhat responsible, I like the 3DS name but when you have: DS, DSI and 3DS. there is bound to be more confusion then playstation 4' etc. A clearer names could have been chosen, but probably at an expense. DS2 doesn't sound great, nor does it sell the 3D function.

I don't agree. The ios device sales are enormous all the time, even at christmastime. You and I are without exact segmentation numbers, but it would be crazy to think that the ios devices don't sell considerably to children. ipads sell on average 6m units quarerly, for figures between 30 and 50m a year. It would be insane to think that a good portion of those aren't sold to teens and kids, as offered by their parents.

There's another flaw I see. You blame confusion of sales on the device's name, but what if the issue was the packaging and the form factor, in that it looked nearly identical to a DS?

Yes, I failed to mention the packaging. Nintendo should also be carefull with that.

By young kids I mean children around  or below the age of 12, not teens. I don't think parents buy there 11 year olds 600$ IOS devices, I do however feel that the same demographic represent a significant portion of the market for nintendo and the 3DS, whereas for every child who owns an IOS device I imagine there are a dozen more adults. As you pointed out we don't have segmentation numbers, so I won't argue any further. Its just speculation based on what I see. But going back to the point, even if A large portion of apples audience was young children, it doesn't actually matter whether they get Iphone4 instead of a 5. They all do the same thing, just different numbers at teh end lol

Well judging by some of the amazon reviews for the latest Professor Layton game, there still seems to be some confusion out there. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B004JHY40C/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_5?ie=UTF8&pageNumber=5&showViewpoints=0

http://www.amazon.com/Professor-Layton-Miracle-Mask-nintendo-3ds/product-reviews/B008OQTV7K/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_3?ie=UTF8&pageNumber=3&showViewpoints=0