It's an interesting and probably necessary step to take at this point. The Wii was a Purple ocean product that had the red Nintendo faithful on board and the casual blue ocean. The WiiU has been unsuccessful at becoming a purple ocean ocean product because it only managed to get the reds on board, so Iwata wants a platform specifically dedicated to the blue ocean. I don't know, it might just work. Nintendo will be free of having to put expensive components for gaming into whatever platform they are going to make and they have a lot more room for experimentation. A WiiFit board that's completely standalone with a tiny screen so you don't even have to hook it up to a TV?

It is but it isn't. R&D and implementation take a long time, which is why the people saying "just kill the Wii U already" have no idea what they're talking about. Kill the Wii U today, this year, or even 2015 probably and they'd have NOTHING on the market, because you can't run a turnaround that fast, at least in terms of a physical product.

Nintendo might be preparing something big or might disappoint more.

It's one thing to suggest that Nintendo cannot make the Wii U profitable, but to suggest that they cannot be profitable in gaming going forward...

It's not like it's hard. Just focus on low-cost hardware next time and that gives you breathing room to sort the rest out.

Good, I would hate to see them leave the gaming industry or focus on something I don't care for... Nintendo is the primary reason why I even buy consoles and don't stick to PC exclusively

I agree w you about it taking time and re not being able to replace the WiI U instantly-  I m sure it takes several years to develop a console - probably takes most of a generation to develop a console- 

But- my comment re Iwata's "ten yeas to achieve...." statement re the QOL platform is that it is completely open ended.  His statement could mean just about anything just as anything could happen over that ten year period-  He could mean the platform will exist and be ready for marklet in ten years, or it will be profitable in 10 years, or anything in between, etc.   When you combine the open ended, non commital nature of his sttement with the ten year time frame he gives, his statemtn does not add up to much of anything-  other than it is somehting they are considering. 

think of my PoV like this.   the point of the wii was to break down those barriers that kept those predisposed to not want to play video games to enjoy nintendo's products.   what better way to destroy that barrier than to release a product that is not on a video game system.

wiifit was massively successful.  it very well could have been even bigger if it didn't demand a $250 console.  so let's just suppose for a second that nintendo releases their first QoL product and it goes on to make billions in profit just like wiifit did.  where do you think nintendo will invest?   the wildly successful business venture or the midly successful business venture?

it's not like things will change over the course of a day or even a year.   ..but video games are a bit of a dead end for nintendo right now.  nintendo can't seem to court 3rd parties and consumers won't buy nintendo's consoles (in large quantities) without them.  if they can find success and growth elsewhere the dynamics of being a publicly traded corporation pretty much demands they change their focus and priorities.

obviously this  is quite dependant on their QoL products being sucessful but i personally think they have a good shot at it.  it seems like a market nintendo knows how to please.

Well there you have it people.
Nintendo consoles ain't going nowhere.

I'm pretty sure he means "Quaratie of raife".

They're having that problem right now, in this gen. Sure if QoL explodes and gaming stays marginal for them over, like, the next 12 years or something, then they could get the idea, but things turn around in strange ways.