Since when is a minor revision a system redesign as specified in the threads title?

Im saying 2013 and it shall be called the oh-so orginal name 3DS Lite =P

It will be the 3DS SSB (Super Strong Battery)

Well then, I'll state that backlike vs frontlight is not as serious an issue as battery life, so merely slapping something on the package might not be enough in this case.

A wider 3D viewing range is not possible with this technology. People expecting that are going to be waiting a very long time.

Essentially, half the pixels direct light to the left, and the other half direct light to the right. The way they direct the light prevents any light from going in the other direction; so for example, if all of the even pixels went dark, but all of the odd pixels worked, if the user closed their left eye, the screen would appear black, but if they closed their right eye instead, they would see a perfect 2D image on the screen. In other words, the 3D viewing range is limited to how far apart your eyes are on your face.

They should call the redesign the 2DS, droping the 3D screen altogether. This will appeal to potential buyers that do not like the 3D and can't justify buying a system that is called "3DS" only to play it in 2D. This will both drop the cost and increase the battery life. It can be marketed to show the value of all the other features besides the 3D.

As far as time frame, I think it should be ASAP. It should be more of a second tier than a redesign, kind of like what sony is doing with the NGP, having a version with and without the 3G.

There is a 2DS available, it is called the DSi, it is a last generation handheld now.

I don't think there will be much of a market for a 2D only version of the 3DS system, probably next to nothing; the graphical quality of the games benefits a huge amount from the 3D, and they look fairly bland and lifeless in 2D. The pricing likely won't go down a lot either, as the games are developed to meet certain hardware characteristics, which includes the 800x240 screen, the processor, RAM, etc... Not to mention the development costs - the tech is cheap to reproduce, but the dev costs were probably fairly pricey. Not to mention, creating a non-3D 3DS would be the same as creating a non-HD PS3, it just was never going to happen due to similar reasons to the ones I listed above.

No, just because you think 3D adds much does not mean the entire market for taking out the 3D is small.

Using the 3DS in 2D mode would yeild the same battery life as a 2D only 3DS.   So you gain very little by dropping 3D except for a fragmented market.

Yeah, it would have to drop the constant wireless as well, and I find a lot of people wouldn't miss that, as they would just want online when they want the system online.