Nope, nope and nope! Oh, did I mention nope?

Why? So they can ignore and not market it again?

Nintendo has certainly attracted fewer indie developers than Sony, but the ones they've got are very pleased with the structure. I just don't think Nintendo was aggressive enough in courting more indies to their platforms, at least until recently. Unity on 3DS could have something to do with it.

Unlikely, it would be a bad idea. Even the 3DS is struggling compared to its direct predecessor, mainly because of mobile devices. NDS didn't even have to deal with the Iphone until 2-3 years already in its life time. Meanwhile, 3DS has to contend with Smartphones, Blackberries, Tablets, Phablets, hell even wearables. Next-Gen handhelds have a huge chance of being DOA, and Sony is getting addicted to actually profiting.

No way, they will focus on smartphones and tablets instead. Besides, they have pissed of the few fans they had with how they treated the vita, so not much to go back to.

it is simple they can't compete with nintendo on that front, it is that simple, and off course, maybe the next nintendo handheld its going to be something that can't be name handheld... who knows?

Just stick some buttons on it, and you're good to go.  The next handheld from them should in part, be a phone.  Just gotta get that battery thing sorted out.  Allow options to reserve a certain percentage for phone-only operation.

I don't know about remote play... it doesn't seem very promising.

Of course not. PS Now/PS4/Morpheus is the future for Sony moving forward.

It's not a done deal, but it does depend on Sony getting profitable again.

The Playstation brand is now one of Sony's lifelines. It's what makes them money and its what makes them popular. I expect that in five or ten years the smartphone market will level out, and IF Sony is in the black when that happens you can bet there will be a real Playstation phone, which would effectively be a Vita II.

But right now they don't have the cash to risk it. The last one was a flop because the company is bleeding money too fast to support it. Now is not the time to experiment on a failure.

I would be surprised if they made another proprietary mobile gaming device like the PSP/PSV.

If SCE wants to remain in the mobile gaming space, they might be better off licensing the mobile platform or make the platform like iOS or Android in that the operating system, along with the hardware on which it is played on, sees regular (annual for the hardware, firmware/OS as needed) updates to keep in step with current mobile platforms.

The problem with the first is that PSV software development (exclusives from SCE) has all but ground to a halt since it makes little financial sense to pour huge resources into big games for such a small user base, which in turn diminishes the value of the PSP/Vita platform as a commercially viable home for other software titles. At best, it would be a distant third for ports of iOS and Android developed games.

The problem with the second, is that SCE is transitioning out of the mobile market. Ericsson is done, Sony is transitioning out of unprofitable computing devices (Vaio, desktops, etc.) and really doesn't have the strong branding that Samsung or Apple has to create the consumer demand for a regularly updated/upgraded product line.

Consumers who buy a PSV or PS4 expect to be able to keep playing games on them for the next 5+ years on average. Nobody expects that of their current mobile phone which will likely be replaced/upgraded in 2 years.

If SCE released a new PS portable, it's extremely doubtful that anyone but the core Playstation audience would buy one. It would probably be little more than a satellite device for the PS4 (which the PSV has somewhat transitioned into).

Now SCE could feasibly release a Playstation TV Portable device that enables users of that service to take their games on the go, but much like the PSV, there is a limited market for that, particularly if it's a streaming device that requires a data subscription plan for access to LTE/4G data networks. Nobody bought the 3G Vita.

If Sony had a decent position in the cellular/mobile market, the obvious answer would be to incorporate the Playstation brand into those devices, but this would eliminate one of the key distinctive features of the PSP/Vita hardware: the physical controls. At that point, developers really would just be making iOS/Android games that were playable on Sony branded smartphones.