I don't know why people are freaking out about this suggestion. It's not like Soundwave is saying Zelda U WON'T come to Wii U, only that it will ALSO come to the next-gen handheld, which could launch next year at a premium price, while 3DS becomes cheaper and gradually fades away. 3DS needs a replacement next year, especially in Japan. They could even launch it only there, since they took to the 3DS about a year quicker than the west - like most of the handhelds.

GBA was dropped simply because they wanted there next system to be out. They felt they could make more money with the increase on game sells price. Plus they were in a position of power, they were making money. Now they don't have that leg to stand on anymore. Plus your thinking narrow minded. Releasing a new console isn't an instant profit and success story. Games aren't going to sell what they could on a bigger install base. Therefor you are limiting your money. Plus you are assuming a gaming platform could work only an apple model. The problem is the two different custumors have two different standards when it comes to the markets.

Revisionist history from someone who probably doesn't even remember this time period.

GBA was dropped because Nintendo had to counter the PSP with something. 

Arguably the threat of iOS/Android is as dire today as the threat of the PSP was in 2003/04. Moreso actually, Nintendo had to respond to PSP because Sony had a proven track record of kicking Nintendo's ass in the console space at that time, but really they didn't have any established record in the portable space. iOS/Android actually do ... they are eating away at the portable space like a spreading cancer year by year. 

Iwata has said Nintendo must adopt a model like iOS in the future, so if you want to argue that ... great, take that up with him and argue till you're blue in the face over it. 

Also explain to me how launching games on Wii U + Nintendo Portable is a lower userbase than launching them on Wii U alone? I'd love to hear the logic behind that. 

So if 2014 is akin to 2008, we still have about 3 years to go.

Are you also forgetting that they haven't even launched the 2DS there yet?

And why do they need to launch a new portable console in the one territory they are completely dominant in already?  If they need a new one anywhere, it's Europe.

I honestly don't get Nintendo fans' fanatical obsession with console's having to last "X number of years".

Like as if they get a cookie or something if they console lasts that long.

The Wii had the most pathetic final 2 years on the market imaginable, but I guess it lasted 6 years so that counts for ... uh something.

It's like a guy who brags about being "married" for 5 years, even if for the last two years he didn't live with his wife and barely spoke with her. That's just two years of waiting to get divorced dude, not a marriage.

3DS is no DS. Comparing it directly like that is pointless. It's actually selling slower than the GBA I believe. 

13-14 mill looks like its peak year for sales, this year will probably be in the 12 mill range, 2015 will be even lower than that. 

They are basically letting iOS/Android eat away at their market unassailed for the most part. It's becoming old hat when I walk into a store like Best Buy to see 3x-4x as many kids clamouring around the iPad section as the 3DS kiosks. 

PSP was not the reason. nintendo themselves were making the sd way before the psp. They said they planned to replace it because they felt it had more potential to grow the market than with GBA. You probably think they made it in 1 year. The GBA was the gap for Ds based on the facts.

Iwata copying apple isn't going to any better than Sony or mircosoft phones. You're assuming people who buy video game systems are going to adopt the same model as apple products. What he has to do is created something inspired from apple and not a direct copy. That's up to Iwata imagination and the future of nintendo will be judged by that. Recent interviews suggest he playing something that I stated.

Release the promise games now. Than 2 years later port them to new handheld. Donkey Kong Country Returns style.  Nobody is going to buy 60 dollar handheld game, so get a 3-4 million 60 dollars sales now and 1-2 million 40 dollars later.