Will the Switch ever get a direct competitor, now that's a pretty easy question to answer, so long as they keep putting out the directs with Switch content and news fans are interested in they will be fine, but if they get slack then Rol may take them on.

The problem with streaming to a handheld is that it eats into the included data volumes very fast. So fast that the Data can very well be drained before the battery does.

So unless the data caps for mobiles get increased a lot (or even come without a cap), this will be very unpractical whenever you're out of WiFi coverage.

There wont be direct competition. I think that portable gaming is gonna get more important not as dedicated activity but more as a way to extend the play time (engagement) of home console players. Its gonna be more like: Play 2 missions RDR2 on home console and the next missions on portabel PSP on the go. Nintendo nor Sony cant afford to have separate teams only for handheld gaming, and people want to play the same games on home consoles as on the go (Fortnite).
I hope Sony is going to descontinue PS4 and relase a portable PS4 with hdmi output. So from the begginnig you will be able to play all your PS4 games. If they can make scalebale software you will be able to play many cross gen games as well. This would be enough for the next 3-4 years untill the 5g will take off and you will be able to stream all games on the go

Don't worry Pema. Not being able to directly compete isn't same as system itself being a failure, even thought a different thread we were having people claiming PS3, N64 and GC were failures.

Also I understood your point and since you weren't disputing any of the points I made, but giving your opinion we can shake hands on agreeing N64 and GC were good systems with great games that some will hold dear to their heart for their whole life.

Cloud? Heh, maybe next 5, even 10 years to become standart. How many country can do the cloud gaming in the public now? As long as Nintendo and Japan market for dedicate portable exist, your wish won't come any time soon 

Verizon's "above unlimited" monthly plan pretty much offers an unthrottled 75GB of data at 4G LTE speeds. Sprint's "unlimited premium" offers 100GB of unthrottled data per month ... 

Considering how the Switch lasts about 2 and a half hours on a full charge while getting a comparable experience without Wi-Fi will need just under 5GB of data, the case with game streaming isn't all too bad but it'll only get better once 5G hotspots are commonplace which will dramatically increase the network capacity by lowering data congestion in the already limited ranges of radio wave frequencies of exisiting 4G LTE networks ... 

We use the 'cloud' for many things such as video streaming, data storage or for many other remote communication systems out there like the internet ...  

We already stream videos so extending the idea to streaming games from your personal system to your smartphone over the internet is a reality and we won't have to deal with dedicated gaming portable devices like the Switch ever again ...  

How many countries have strong wifi like that? In that case, stream rules all. The dedicate gaming systems (both home & portable) will be gone forever because you can stream any time and anywhere. Stream to phones if you want portable, stream to big screen like TV if you want home console experience. Both home console and portable will disappear forever ever :)))

regardless of countries getting that sort of internet access, one awesome thing with the Switch is being able to play it places without any internet connection, I can't really imagine my train and plane journeys having a level of broadband speed capable of delivering more than a podcast right now, streaming HD gaming to those area's is just out of the question right now or anytime near right now.

Devices capable of running games natively aren't going anywhere, from a latency point of view, nothing will beat having the cpu/gpu right there next to your screen.

1. Not every country have such data plans

2. The bigger the resolution the higher the data consumption. With a PS4 equivalent you could already count close to 15-20GB instead of the 5GB for Switch hardware.

3. The prices for these plans. Verizon's above unlimited costs 95$ per month, while Sprint's unlimited premium is still 90$. That's way above what most people would be willing to pay. Add to this the price of you subscription and you would easily be at 120$ per month or 1440$ per year. That's just nuts.

1. I don't see why it couldn't be better in other countries since delivering mobile connectivity coverage in Europe or East Asia is not as geographically challenging as it is North America which need far more cell towers to service less population dense areas ... 

2. Game streaming only needs like 5 Mbps for a passable experience ... (~2GB/hr) 

3. Prices for these plans aren't that amazing but it'll get better once 5G rolls out in a couple of years and the landscape will definitely become more competitive between mobile network operators in the coming years ... 

With all that being said, 2G and 3G are becoming obsolete in the developed markets and there will only be 4G LTE (only fallback) or 5G but what's more is that even the likes of Verizon themselves is entering the game streaming market!