This is what I've been saying sense the price was announced. I work in the 3d business and this type of 3d hardly costs more than a standard screen. Now atleast I can show some exact numbers to back my word up. Note: not saying it is priced too high, just saying it's cheap to make.

Ninty's profit margin is very modest compared to Apple.

Wow thats it? I figured it would be a lot more expensive to make than the DS/DSI

Ah, I got you wrong, I thought you hate Nintendo. I'll have to explain myself better then.  I miss those days when Nintendo was a humble company, when they cared more about games and its consumers. Yes, obviously they also want money but it looks like they care only about the money. I used to like Nintendo in the GameCube days and the times before, Nintendo 64, Super NES and NES(including portables) but to me, Nintendo is dead now. Like you said, all the companies look for a profit, everyone knows that but Nintendo is different, Nintendo used to be a humble company, they used to sell their consoles at very good prices and add what your said, Nintendo made a profit. 

And since you mentioned Microsoft, it's safe to say that Nintendo cares even more about money, they only want sell consoles but don't care about having games or not from 3rd parties. Wii has no games, it's just a gimmick. Everybody were mocking at Kinect and now, look at the news, Kinect is getting a lot of games, not only casual games. Microsoft is much better than Nintendo, they care about their consumers, people were saying Kinect was for casual only but they were wrong. And I could ask you? Where are the good non-nintendo games? Lazy developers? That's a silly argument. Monter Hunter Tri, Zack and Wiki, T vs. Capcom and MadWorld to name a few are very good games(don't have a wii but that doesn't matter since my friends told me they are very good and we have similar taste so I'm sure if I played those games, I'll enjoy them; pro reviewers also said they are very good) but did they sell well? No, this is why third-party developers aren't making games for the wii anymore, they tried but they couldn't. Does Nintendo care? No, they only care about themselves and the money now. Microsoft also wants money but they also care for their consumers, that's why Kinect is getting a lot of games from third-party developers.

Nintendo is just an arrogant company now.

Charge what the market will pay.

I own shares, I don't care.

And Sony's profit margin is very modest compared to mine!

They would hate Apple, cause they would sell it for $400.00, lol. (Seriously, that's an amazingly small manufacturer price increase from DSi to 3DS. )

 Both Nintendo with the 3DS and Microsoft with the Kinect are both seemingly making good profits. 

But if you enjoy the product, and it helps them make more products for you to enjoy.  Then it just seems like the gaming investment you make in a system.  I assume you want new games for the system.

1-You started. Microsoft had nothing to do with this and yet, you had to bring Microsoft in.

2-If you made an argument and then you will end with that ignoring my entire post, you need to grow up. Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. Just a reminder :D

3-Putting Microsoft and Kinect is totally acceptable. It's nothing illogial, you are closed minded. If you think wii is the best console because is has sold the most, then you are wrong, my friend. Numbers don't matter. It doesn't affect any gamer, only fanboys. If numbers mattered, why aren't most of the critcally acclaimed games on the wii? It's a fact Xbox 360 has the most games this gen and guess what? It's not in first place and yet, it's the console with the most games and they are excelent games. If they sell, good but to me, the most important thing is that I enjoy them. I also played and enjoyed Nintendo games in the past with family and friends when I was a kid and I'm glad I did it, it was time well spent. Sure, Nintendo has Mario, Zelda, etc. but Microsoft also own their own franchises, Halo, Gears Of War, Forza, etc.

4-Continuning point 3 but now with Kinect. How can you say that? You know, everyone was mocking kinect games and now look, launch titles were well received because they are quality games. Again, you are being very closed minded, how can you be so sure those hardcore kinect titles will be bad? Didn't people learn something with the launch kinect titles? I'll repeat myself, intead of making silly arguments, be a man(unless you are a lady) and respond well.

Not really surprising that they could have priced it lower... I think it's likely they may have been considering $199 themselves before the "positive reactions" at E3...

However this kind of margin does seem exceptionally high. Part of it is definitely due to huge loss of potential revenue during the time the Wii was supply constrained (easily as much as one billion USD if not more), but it also seems that Nintendo are playing it increasingly safe in order to sustain themselves during rainy days which may come...

Either that or there are more hidden costs that we don't know of, such as any deals with SHARP (I think they are the suppliers of the screen) or DMP or Marvell... Also don't forget the large investment in online infrastructure for the 3DS (Reggie mentioned deals with AT&T in the US and so on...)

Still I can't quite shake the feeling that an additional $5 in parts could have gone towards a better battery... oh well...

*edit: fixed list of suppliers

Sharp make the parallax screen