Why are people saying the 3DS is selling badly?

[STRYKIE]

I suppose part of it is that... it doesn't really make sense that the 3DS isn't doing as well as the original DS line. The DS had a big gun to compete with, the 3DS does not.

Or maybe we really are severely underestimating the mass market's inability to distinguish a true successor console unless a '2' is slapped onto the end of an existing console's name...

That also being said, this is the longest since the original Game Boy that a Nintendo handheld has had to wait for it's first set of Pokemon games, whether that remains a valid talking point remains to be seen.