Of course one won't devour the other as there is always dedicated markets, but there is no denying that smartphones ate into Nintendo's overall handheld market when you consider where the DS was performing and how 3DS is performing now. Introduction of smartphones changed that. Games like Brain Age can now be had for free. 

My main gripe is people saying things like "iPhone gamers aren't real gamers" or "iPhones games aren't real games".

The iPhone 6 does not bring anything new wrt to gaming that justifies replaying this tired old position.

I just think the author has taken the opportunity to try his Apple goggles on once more.

One thing I'd like to point out before adressing these points fully: I know this article regards iPhone and Nintendo, but I think it's more useful to consider dedicated handheld gaming devices vs. ALL other "mobile" (phone / tablet) gaming platforms here.

There will always be a place for games that are playable in short bursts with constant gratification, and this has been an aspect of portable gaming which Nintendo has had aeons to perfect. This is also something that mobile gaming has recently done better, mainly by exploiting the "gratification" part, and this is something which Nintendo are going to have to work incredibly hard to compete against. I wonder if Sony ever understood, and simply thought that they could employ their usual method of making a cool thing and hoping people would come. Anyway, we have a good idea what the article author thinks of THEM.

Of course mobile gamers are "real" gamers, as is anyone who enjoys playing games. I have to admire mobile gaming for stealing the baton from Nintendo to make a legitimate hobby more acceptible, but the hardware appears to be both an enabler and a limiter. If the common perception of gaming narrows to what mobile platforms offer, there is a real possibility that some genres might become obscure, or die out.

Other genres may be born too.

I love JRPG too and they work so unbelievably well on smartphones, so I am happy about that.

Other than that I agree with much of what you said.

What a nonsensical article. And, it's from Polygon. Quite the surprise huh?

I did have issue with MKWii but the screen tilting along with the iPad/iPhone sounds like a nightmare.

Did you take that picture just for me? That's cute.

I would recommend that to you as well considering that was completely sarcasm. *Then again, it can be hard to sense for some user's sarcasm detectors. 

*edit.

Exactly what I was thinking...

Same stuff as always.

There`s one very important detail in the article that now might not seem much, but in 5/10 years it`s really going to hurt Nintendo, Sony and MS: kids today are starting gaming on a device that is completely different than consoles. And not just that, there`s no Mario, Master Chief or Drake in this new world of gaming.
They are going to get used to getting some games for free and others for a cheap price.
They will know no brand loyalty, no franchise loyalty, only the likes of Apple will ring a bell to them.

These days, tablets and smartphones can`t even begin to handle console games. They don`t even have enough storage space to download them to the device. And even the biggest SD card won`t be able to fit more than a few of them.
In some years, as technology progresses, these hurdles will go away and better games will eventually be a common thing. 3rd parties will start bringing their CoDs, GTAs, Destinys to these devices and with the market being so big they might even charge less per game to break in to the mobile market, faster.

MS and Sony have smart devices, they can easily adapt to this change.
Nintendo doesn`t have smart devices, and as far as we know, there are no plans to start developing a new business internally.

Before it`s too late, Nintendo needs to find a way to attract it`s main market: kids and families.
And to me there`s only one solution.

Iwata already expressed the desire to have more form factors for HW, but if they tried that now, SW would be even more scarce than it is already.
The only option is to "become" a PC like developer: build games that can play in more than one device, be it a dedicated handheld or a home console.
Just think about how many games Nintendo can develop every single year... shortages would be a thing of the past.

If they do this, they can save enough staff to develop a new strategy: mobile devices.
With the freed staff, they can make games for the mobile, with the assets that they already have, and then port them, with the necessary changes, to the HH or HC.
They can also bring their catalogue to this new device aswell and bring kids to their side, while maintaining complete control of their HW and SW.

Hard to tell on these forums with all the ridiculous elitism and mobile gaming hate.

It would also be impossible to tell sarcasm from non-sarcasm in your post. If it was indeed meant to come off as sarcasm then it was poorly done. This is why most people end with a or /s. So to prevent misunderstanding like this next time I suggest making it somewhat obvious. Just a suggestion.