Iwata's biggest mistake was trying to cater to the hardcore gamer crowd. It doesnt work and it never will. 360 and PS3, were not carried by the hardcore by any means. Call of Duty, FIFA, and GTA has a ton of casual players, and are the only reason either of those consoles sold over 45 - 50 million consoles. Just take a look at past Nintendo consoles and their libraries and it's no wonder the Wii U was a total disaster from February to November.

NES - SMB 1,2,3 combined sold 65 million, Duck Hunt sold 28 million...the console moved 62 million.
SNES - SMW sold 20.6 million, DKC 1,2,3, combined sold 18 million, Street Fighter II combined sold 12.4 million...the console sold 49 million.
Gameboy - All Pokemon combined sold 75 million, Tetris 30 million...console moved 118 million.
N64 - Everything shifted from 2D to 3D, Mario 64 sold 10 million, DK64 sold 5 million...console only moved 33m.
Gamecube - Totally focused on the hardcore...Pikmin 1+2, 2.8 million, Sunshine, 6.8 million, Luigis Mansion 3 million, Metroid Prime 1+2 4.1 million, total 22 million consoles.
Wii - Mostly focused on Casuals. Wii Sports + Resort 110 million, Mario Kart 34 million, Wii Fit + Plus 43 million....101 million consoles.

This whole notion that Nintendo needs 3rd parties and to make smartphone games to make a profit if far from the truth. What it needs are a few huge titles that the casuals will eat up like Duck Hunt,SMB,DKC and Wii Sports. Casuals see Pikmin and go WTF is that. They also see Wind Waker (now twice) and go, wtf is with this cartoon Zelda. Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, and Smash Bros will help alot, but unless Nintendo finds that one new IP, that resonates with the casuals the console will never take off. Nintendo Land was a good attempt, but it didnt work and they need to go back to the drawing board or the Wii U will be screwed.

There is a supposed "surprise" coming soon. Maybe an early Mario Kart 8 release date, release dates on mentioned games, or unannounced games going to be announced.

They need a serious batch of games because the only ones that have come out for 14+ months that consumers cared about were NSMBU and SM3DW.   I really liked the Wonderful 101 and Pikmin 3, but it was an awful business decision to release those before Mario Kart and Donkey Kong.   Nintendo really needs to show what they are working on, and drop some release dates for all this software we have been waiting for too, I agree.

"propose something that surprises our customers."

No, hell no, stop that. That's what the hell the Wii U was, a big ass surprise. How about propose things that customers are asking for?

"In Japan, I can be my own antenna, but abroad, that doesn't work"

The most positive words to come from Iwata in awhile. Take a page from Sony's book. Give someone with a feel for the west some authority and acquire/create a few high-level western studios. Nintendo has money; if they want market share, they're going to need to use that money, because Microsoft and Sony damn sure are. Never mind the success of the PS4 for the moment, instead just think about all the first-party support that the Xbox One will have that the Xbox 360 did not. That's what your competition is doing, Nintendo.

The games market has changed, the mobile market being the most influenced (although the 3DS is doing pretty well) - but the home consol market seems to be as strong as ever despite plenty of negative predictions from prognosticators-, yet the Wii U is performing horribly- the point is that, yes the market environment has changed and Nintenod needs to be flexible but Iwata can t blame the Wii U s performance on the changing market otherwise there would not be nearly as many home console sales as there have been last year-

Nintendo did execute the 3DS nearly flawless over the last year + and did well- but they their execution the last 2+ years of the Wii (pre Wii U) and the Wii U has been horrendous if not baffling- It is as if they intentionally took a dive in the home consol market-

You're 100% right. That's why I said "and make more games that people don't know they want." They need more than what they have. They need what other people have that they don't have, AND they need what no one has that they should have.

They need exlusive hardcore games. More than just Bayonetta 2. They need something that will literally destroy minds. They need Final Fantasy XV quality exclusives. They need Street Fighter V quality exclusives. They need Metal Gear Solid V quality exclusives. Gran Theft Auto "Insert Subtitle here" kind of exclusive. Half Life 3 kind of exclusive. They need games that will make people literally hate the fact that they MUST buy a Wii U. But most importantly, they need them all within a short burst. A "Third Party Initiative."

They need a Nintendo Direct that literally says, "We're going to use this Direct to communicate out exclusive third party plans through out the year." Then start out with the San Andreas to Gran Theft Auto V. Exclusive. "We've purchased Capcom. Street Fighter V is now exclusive to the Wii U. We've worked out an exclusive deal with Gabe Newell. Half Life 3 is now coming to PC and Wii U, exclusively. Borderlands 3 will now come exclusively to the Wii U. Ken Levine has been hard art work on his new IP, coming exclusively to the Wii U. Oh, and you'll still get Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, XenoDolls, and Bayonetta 2. This year. Please understand."

THAT'S what the Wii U needs. Call it money hatting if you want. It's good business. Now they've diversified the installed base of the Wii U. Now, Assassin's Creed V has a chance to sell well. Now Watch_Dogs has a chance. Now Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 has a chance. Why? Because they've taken the installed base who will buy those games.

Nintendo Land basically is Nintendo doing that exact "arcadey" NES style game ... it's no match for smartphone games that go for $1 a pop.

No one's paying $300+ for a seperate piece of hardware just to have that type of experience anymore. Now they have different and much cheaper options of getting that type of gaming fix that fits their life style far better (smartphone goes anywhere they go ... Wii U is an expensive proprietary console for someone who's just looking to game maybe 15-20 minutes a day).

Gotta wake up and accept things have changed. Nintendo is no match for Apple/Samsung in this area, they actually would have an easier time competing against Sony, lol. $1 games killed Nintendo's casual market completely, once that opened Pandora's Box, there's no closing it.

I think the most interesting thing about that quote is that it came from a Japanese analyst because I thought nintendo's corporate behavior was inherently Japanese.

At the risk of sounding racist, I thought that too, haha.  It sounds like something a Western dev or exec would say.

Exactly my first thought.