The issue is understanding the economics of the mobile sector and how at odds they are with traditional hand held gaming.
1. I would say 95% of people I know with smart phones are on subscription plans. This means that $500 phone is often $100 and they are content to pay $50 a month for internet, phone, and texting. So, can Nintendo offer all those features making essentially a Nintendo phone and work out deals with Verizon and Sprint to have those models?
2. Also, 95% of people I know who game on smart phones have spent less than $5 a year on gaming, many of them have spent nothing. This model works on advertising and micro transactions to small minorities. So, why does it work? Well, you'll notice Apple is not some developing power house, they let thousands of third parties take on the risk and reap the benefits. Nintendo cannot afford the failure rate you see on mobile given their investment. I also do not think Nintendo will just go full on shovel ware hoping 5% of games become a fad hit and have people associate Mario and Pokemon with "freemium" junk.
It is not an easy problem they face, I'll grant you that. I just don't see mimicking Apple as a viable strategy for Nintendo.
