Ultimately though, only the GBA has sold ultra-fast in the US. GBA did somewhere near 1.5m or more on it's first month. Outside of this, handhelds have sold slow but steady. I think that the DSL has a splendid future in the US, but I only see it reaching around 30~35m in the US once the succuessor is released.
However, that really doesn't hurt it, as it's still going to be a major market. I guess everyone just expects the US, since it's larger for most every system, to magically do some insane sort of numbers. However, I do think that the DS is just a great case of an oddity. In Japan, it's selling faster than anywhere - which really does show that Japanese tastes in taming are truely different than the US and Europe. Europe is adopting the huge handheld push that Japan is, but it's not entirely in the DS (PSP still sells very well there, ala US).
I think also that Nintendo just isn't entirely catering to a US fanbase with their games. There are tons of great games, don't get me wrong, but it's still taking time for handheld makers to adopt to Western DS fare, whereas in Japan, we see huge 3rd party games release every week there. Go look at the DS US charts: It's flooded with junky, poor titles that really are just cash-ins on little kids like Hanna Montana, movie tie-ins, and such. It leaves Nintendo to bear the entire burden of sales, to which it really shouldn't. If 3rd parties can wake up and realize that they need the DS's sales capacities, the DS should do better.
But ultimately, the DS isn't doing bad in the US. 12m+ units and 400k/mo isn't anything to balk about. It's just something of an anomaly when one can extrapolate that the DS could do anywhere from 40-50m units in Japan alone before DS2 comes out.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
