It could be some kind of concern for a beloved gamemaker that have touched the hearts of many. As Nintendo live and die with the success of their games they need more platforms where they are seen. MS and Sony have other means of surviving.

In the past it seems Nintendo made more profit from hardware than software, but that has changed this generation. So if the hardware no longer carry them they have to rely on software, and if so they need to get the software to the consumers trough other channels than their own hardare.

I have a link someware on the earnings on hardware and software.

There's a lot of different options here, and I don't know what would work best. Maybe offer the core game for free, and as you say, pay for accessories, pay for different dog races, pay for tricks or what ever. Or pay $5 for the core game AND pay for accessories.

I have no idea how that's going to work. It's hard to compete with free apps ;) I'm sure Nintendo could come up with something. How does those apps get money?

Yeah, there's a whole lot of options with the Wii Sports games Nintendo could do. All they have to do is go after the right audience.

I am not myself a smartphone gamer so the way they are making money is a mystery to me. If Flappy Bird and Candy Crush Saga can make money by just being impossible to finish there may be some way to make money on Brain Age also.

I get the feeling that those that finance this smartphone wonder are the elusive casuals, and they are not easy to predict.

Brain Age was just an example and you are wrong and i am right!!! Nintendo is known for high quality games that are developed for their own hardware, and thats why their games are awesome, if they start developing their games for Mobile devices than this will damage their brand because mobile games have bad reputations in the world!!! END!!!

And if you develop a Nintendo quality game that fit Nintendos quality standard than you can sell the game not for $0,99 Dollar like 99% of the mini Mobile games in the world!!!!

That's the whole idea of going mobile, though: reaching that market that doesn't buy gaming hardware anymore. Release the kind of games on mobile, that doesn't do well on Nintendo consoles anymore. Brain Age and Nintendogs are really good examples of this. They're not doing very well, because the audience for those games aren't there anymore. Why try to pursue that audience on your own HW when they're not there?

And like I wrote in the OP, this isn't about Mario. Mario shouldn't go mobile. Have you read the OP? Mario should stay the fuck away from mobile devices; his audience can be found with those people that are willing to buy a gaming hardware, unlike the audience for Brain Age.

We all know that different games cater to different tastes. NSMB doesn't really appeal the GoW or GeoW gamers generally, so why do we asume that people that like Brain Age/Nintendogs also likes Mario os Zelda? They might have been on the same HW a few years back, but they never appealed the same people (in general). And the Pokemon extension doesn't have to be advertised as an extension in the app stores; Nintendo doesn't have to hide the fact that it works with the proper Pokemon game, but they don't have to tell everyone that "this is an incomplete game that doesn't work without the proper Pokemon game". It could be a stand alone game, that ALSO works as an extension to the proper game.

Yes, I did read the OP. And I agree somewhat, I just don't see anyone interested in brainage or nintendogs anymore. If they are to go mobile, I think they should work on new IP's specifically for mobile gaming. It's a market they can definitely do well in. Like making games in the Mario Universe that take a different approach, such as turning the tables in Super Mario Bros. and being able to play as bowser or his minions attempting to kidnap the princess. Or a Zelda companion app that shows you Hyrule through Ganondorf's eyes. 

And as for the question of assuming- I liked Brain Age/Nintendogs and also like Mario/Zelda, I can't be the only one. Yes I am assuming there are more people like me out there, really not a far fetched assumption.

Why wouldn't people be interested in those titles anymore? You don't think10 year old girls would love Nintendogs? They loved it back in 2005 with the release of the original title, and they loved Tamagoshi back in the mid 90's. And I'm not saying they should only stick with these two titles; I agree that they should make exclusive mobile IP's (as long as that doesn't effect their appility to make "real" games ^^). But those are two good examples that would make good mobile games.

I'm not saying that there aren't any over lapping, just that that over lap probably is rather small(ish). This can also be seen in HW sales. the DS sold over 150m units, while the 3DS is lagging behing the DS by 10m (or is it 20m?) units and will never reach 150m sold units. A big chunk of the audience has disappeared, but Mario and Zelda and Pokemon seem to be doing quite well on the 3DS, so what audience did leave? Probably those that bought Brain Age and Nintendogs since those games have done horribly compared to the previous gen.