They seem like a clever implementation of DLC IMO...

"The Nintendo Way".

That's how NFC generally work, it's not really fair to call it a Nintendo restriction.

I think what we will see with Amiibo is that each one has a primary function in one game (that requires data saving) and some smaller ancillary effects in other games ala the costumes in MK8. This series of Amiibo was labelled as the Smash Bros series. If we really want to see some interesting sales figures, queue Pokemon Amiibo. They will, to use the cliched phrase in a very appropriate way, print money.

I'll be willing to bet Nintendo will come up with a way to back up your Amiibo data before too long though. They have already alluded to the fact that there will be cheaper NFC tokens in the future which may very well be a way to, for example, back up your Smash Bros Captain Falcon data to make way for your F-Zero Captain Falcon data. Obviously being able to save it straight to the OS as well would be ideal.

Never even looked into any NFC before amiibo so I didn't know they were all like that.  I just expected better, after the first use they revealed in SSB, I expected equally useful features in all games that utalized amiibos. 

Here's the original article. 

This is the methodology they used:

"The strength of amiibo sales surprised CONSULGAMER, especially given the competition of established players Skylanders and Disney INFINITY in a heated holiday market.  Yet amiibo sales currently shine.  A review of Best Buy’s online sales show Disney INFINITY and amiibo in a dead-heat for the top 20 game-to-toys on the market – each having ten toys in the list.  By expanding to Best Buy’s top 50 selling products on their site, the two remain tied: amiibo and Disney INFINITY each have 18 products in the top 50, with Skylanders trailing with 14 products."

I don't think anyone should use this as legitimate sales information. 

Don't really understand the appeal of amiibo from a video game perspective, they only have a worthwhile use in SSB, in other games they unlock items that gamers are used to getting for free as pre-order bonuses such as costumes and weapons.  Not to mention Nintendo restricted them so they can only save data from one game, so if another game gets a worthwhile use like SSB youll have to delete your SSB saved data.

I imagine Amiibo would have had a bigger market share if Nintendo managed to keep up with demand. Still so many people who want to get the figurines, but can't because so many store have yet to recieve any stock. It's still fantastic, be a major help financially.