In Soundwave's hypothesis, that's the entire point of the microconsole, for those who want to play Nintendo games on the TV. It would be to Wii U what Wii was to GameCube, mostly a refinement of the previous technology and not much of a step forward, since it's core requirements would be the same as the handheld's.

Imagine if they launched it with a new gen of pokemon. Even if that was the only launch title it will probably break records for Nintendo handheld launches.

I'm surprised people are thinking 2017 at all. 3ds sales are on the decline. I would expect a succesor by Holiday 2016 at the latest. Probably Spring 2016 for Japan and holiday 2016 for other regions.

Thanks! So, I'll buy a handheld and in case I want to play those games in a TV I need a microconsole. Good. I guess this will led us to a robust library,

I'm assuming yes. Nintendo still likes their controller/accessory moneyz that consoles bring in, and it would be difficult for the handheld to pump out 1080p visuals without having to be very expensive.

It is the same thing with the Vita though ... if you want to play Vita games on a TV, you have to buy a Vita TV. 

Or say an iPhone/iPad ... if you want to make phone calls and just have an iPad ... well it's kinda like you need to buy an iPhone in that case. 

Apparently you can just tout and release an upgraded model. GBA SP came out in 2003, and DS came out in 2004. DSi XL came out in 2010, and 3DS in 2011.

Yeah GBA SP came out the year before the DS, and the GBA Micro the year after the DS (lol) for good measure.

The DSi XL came out one year before the 3DS.

I don't think people really realize how many handheld revisions Nintendo has released over the years, it's virtually non-stop since 2001 ...

2001 - GBA
2002- nada
2003 - GBA SP
2004 - Nintendo DS
2005 - GBA Micro
2006 - DS Lite
2007 - Nada
2008 - DSi (Japan)
2009 - DSi (West)
2010 - DSi XL
2011 - Nintendo 3DS
2012 - Nintendo 3DS XL
2013 - Nintendo 2DS
2014 - New 3DS (Japan + Aus)
2015 - New 3DS (West)
2016 - ?

My predictions:
-2016 holiday is the earliest, 2017 holidays is the lattest.
-Powered aywhere between vita and wii U, run games in a 640p screen(the patter for lots of ps360 games), 3D support.
-Keep a 480p second screen(touchable).
-Of course there will be exclusives(pokemon, AC...), but most of library will be shared with home console, including VC and indies.
-200$ at launch.
-desagree the name.

-The most important: The new kind of input(I agree that this time will be a input). They will improve the face tracker they introduced on N3DS, the tracker could read your face, so, blinking the eye, looking to the bottom screen, showing the tongle, smiling, or tracing your pupil to know where are you looking, could be used as inputs for gaming. (some possibilities: the nintendog mimicing you face movements, a new metroid where if you are looking to the upper screen, the controls respond as a side scroller, if you look at the bottom screen, the controllers respond as a FPS, or select something on screen by looking at it.).
They will market this functionality heavily, but wont be a great revolution(like 3D on 3DS)

You've pretty much accurately described exactly what I think they will do.

New console and new handheld. Both share similar architexture. Handheld a bit more powerful than the Vita. Console a bit more powerful than the PS4. Almost every first party game will be available on both systems, but most follow the Smash 4 method of developement. Same core game; exclusive features to both that encourage owning each version in their own right. And even more, a "Mewtwo DLC-like" hook to encourage owning both. Everything is cross-buy and cross-save.

Handheld games would cost $40. Console games would cost $60. If you buy the $60 console version first, you get the full handheld version for free. If you buy the $40 handheld game first, you get a smaller console version for free, and it would cost $20 to upgrade to the full console version. If you don't upgrade, you'll have the core game on the console without all the console version's bells and whistles, aka the "$40 console version."

For example, say you bought Mario Kart 9 on your Nintendo handheld for $40. The game comes with 8 cups, but two of them are handheld exclusive. A year later, you buy the home console. You sign into your NNID, and you now have the game on your home console, but it only has 6 tracks because it is just the handheld version without the exclusive content. By paying the $20 upgrade, you get the 2 console exclusive cups, a bonus 2 cups for owning both versions, and any console exclusive features like the return of dual drivers from double dash and such because of the added power. It might even allow you to play the 2 handheld exclusive cups on the console now that you registered both.

And obviously, smaller games like Captain Toad, or 2D games would just be $40 or less on both platforms.

I don't think Nintendo has much interest in even a PS4 level system though.

They're just now really getting the hang of last-gen HD engine building, they're not going to up turn the tea table and make their dev teams have to make games again with double/triple the budget on a console that very well may sell just as badly as the Wii U (a lot of people simply prefer Sony/MS' to console making, that's all there is to it). If a game performs badly with a large budget in that scenario they are pretty much screwed. 

So a microconsole 2x-3x the Wii U in power would probably be more than fine by Nintendo.

The "handheld holding the console back!" thing isn't much of a concern I think in Nintendo's eyes anyways.

You can make a pretty beautiful Mario Kart, Mario 3D, Pikmin, Zelda game on Wii U hardware as is, I think like the GCN-Wii era, Nintendo is just fine staying in this relative ball park for another 5 years past 2016. If the microconsole is say even double a Wii U with say 4GB RAM, I think for Nintendo's design teams they're happily eat that up and pump out some gorgeous looking games. 

We're headed to another GameCube to Wii type deal I think.