It's unrealistic to enter the smart phone market as a new maker and rely on Nintendo exclusivity to sell a device.  Smartphone hardware is cornered at the high end by Apple, and the rest by Samsung and a host of other makers.  It's a race to the bottom and even Samsung is hurting.  Smartphone software on the other hand is ripe for picking by a publisher with strong IP.

As you say, Pokemon would make ridiculous money on smartphones in Japan.  What was best idea in 2004 (DS) and in 2011 (3DS) is not anymore.  Since 3DS launched, the number of Smartphone users in Japan changed from ~19 Million to ~76 Million.  Smartphone game market in Japan is ~$4 BILLION.  Nintendo fans who don't want Nintendo to get a piece of that seem to not care about Nintendo's health.

This is just Vietnam as I am looking for similar graphs in other countries, but you can see an example of the trend heavily affecting Nintendo's future.  When 3DS was released smartphones had only 3% of the mobile game market in Vietnam, but now 79% and by the time Nintendo is ready to release a new handheld system, it will be close to 100%.

agreed. they don't like the idea of the consoles they supported for so long being no more. Sony has been killed by the market and nintendo are next. Surely they see where the potential lies for the next 10 years. The next DS if they make one would likely do a good bit worse than the 3DS but the money they can make from ios and android would be crazy. I'd say a shit load of my friends would get pokemon again for the first time in years. Almost everyone would have access to their games and most of them are suited for mobile. 

Nintendo has to do something fast... which is wake up and smell the coffee about the mobile gaming market.

They started making money a short while ago as far as I know!

mobile gaming is a bad business model for the same reason that music streaming is good for the spotifys of the world but not for the artists whose work is streamed freely. you take those figures and divide and subdivide them by the number of absolute garbage on the itunes store/google play, and i mean absolute tripe of the worst sort which makes flappy bird look like sophisticated game design, and you have mobile developers getting a vanishingly small cut. the only people who theoretically can make it financially are the very large developers ('large' is a relative term here as most mobile developers are quite small compared to activision, nintendo, etc.)--except that even they are struggling.. zynga is bleeding money under don mattrick and rovio is losing jobs faster than they can vomit out angry birds [insert product here] spin-offs.

this is unsustainable long- or medium- term because the market is so fluid and oversaturated with shovelware. if you thought the wii had a lot of junk software, just browse around the nether regions of the app store and you'll understand. the google- and apple-led techno-utopianism that says that tablets/phones will right every wrong and fix every ailing industry is actually falling apart before our eyes. if anything you should be thankful 'traditional' core gaming is a separate entity from mobile gaming, because today's mobile gaming looks a lot like 1983's console gaming in terms of the excrement to quality software ratio.

Agreed. And while dropping Kinect lead to some drop in the price of the XboxOne, dropping the Gamepad is a completely different thing, because it´s exactly what differentiates WiiU from the others. Kinect was more like an add-on, while the Gamepad is part of the entire WiiU concept. People doesn´t seem to understand it.

I do think that most people, specially journalists -  who say things like "Nintendo should go mobile" are more interested in having their software on the devices they work on. People know the popularity of its franchises and want to take a part of the money they generate. See how well the last pokemon sold on launch? People want Nintendo´s software but don´t want to play them on Nintendo hardware. And when the day comes that Nintendo stop to make hardware, probably all the console market will be collapsed.  

Console market isn't as dependent on Nintendo hardware as you think. However if Sony were to leave, it would surely put a pretty big dent in home console sales.

That´s not exactly my point. While the market exists, I´m sure Nintendo will still be aroung making consoles, even if they continue to be #3. But if any day they decide to give up, probably that will happen when the console market ceases to be profitable.

I see danger for them with the handheld market, which still gives them tons of money, but also suffers a bit from the mobile market. Call me pessimistic, but I lso don´t see a brighter future for the home consoles market after the current generation, either

They need to release games that people are willing to buy.

Sure the amount of excrement to quality software ratio is massive, but there are lucrative markets.  People in Japan and other places that are commuter heavy, use mobile devices for entertainment on the go.  What used to be DS-land, is now iPhone & Samsung land, and they are playing RPGs & Pokemon type games, usually from bigger publishers.  People are attracted to big names, quality, and whatever their friends are playing.  Nintendo could and I think should get a piece of that.

Zynga & Rovio are hardly comparable to Nintendo.  The former has no great IP and is based on a model of spamware, and Rovio is a single IP one hit wonder.

Wii was full of crapware as well, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good business for Nintendo to put out it's hits among the crapware and bank big.  It doesn't have to be some perfect nexus of of gaming which will last for an eternity to get into it.  Nintendo should be fast moving; there is an opportunity in mobile now, and mobile is also eating their lunch.  It may pay big for just a few years, or Nintendo can help to define it.  While they sit on the sidelines, they have their own business buried.