Its below GBA sales which is more comparable

I'd say it's probably Nintendo's least successful core handheld ever (both in sales and profitability, though if Nintendo hold off on its successor it might be able to scrape past the GBA/PSP in LT hardware), but the "least" here is relative to a very high standard set by its predecessors. The 3DS in itself has still been quite a big success.

Even with its early failings it will still have generated Nintendo a lot of profit, and has managed to maintain a significant install base despite incredibly strong competition from mobile devices. I don't think it could have done much better, all things considered.

Well, it is going to be down 50% on it's predecessor in terms of hardware sales, which is a shame but expected in the current climate. I hope Nintendo will have made a nice amount of money on the system when all is said and done.

Software wise, it isn't even close to the breadth of the DS library, which was outstanding. It has plenty of games worth buying the system for, but for me, 2013 is the only great year the system has had or will have. Other years have ranged from poor to decent.

A moderate success for me. The comparisons between the 3DS and DS make me worried for the next handheld

It is a success. No, other handheld/Console can be compared to the DS/PS2 they are the leggendry duo who will never be beat. Comparing any other console to these two would just be silly.

People need to stop with this " current financial climate " debate. Believe it or not the recession only hit a couple of countries who already had some financial troubles before this so called recession, it was overblown by the government to stop people from spending their money on stupid things. Last generation consoles were in the middle of this so called recession yet they have managed to break sales records.

I'd say no, but I think internally Nintendo is likely fairly unhappy with going from 150 million DS to only about 70 million 3DS' probably and having to have a couple of years of losses to even get to that 70 mill-ish as is. 

Like I don't think they're exactly popping champange bottles over in Kyoto due to the 3DS. I think they're also extremely concerned by the erosion of the handheld market, moreso than anything to do with the Wii U, I bet that's the issue that keeps them awake at night.

If the handheld market continues to shrink they could be in big trouble going forward.

The smartphone/tablet conundrum I think is driving Nintendo nuts internally. I don't think they know how to deal with it, competing with Sony/MS is much more straight forward and predictable, smartphones/tablets are eating away at Nintendo strongholds in a way that I don't think they've ever faced. Sony just got obliterated out of the handheld business, Nintendo is hanging tough, but this is very definitely a dog fight now and they are taking heavy fire. 

No, but 3DS is the most boring Nintendo handheld to date SW wise.

I don't think so, but a let down can be. It will at best reach 50% of the predecessor. I guess, just by a hunch, that Nintendo at least expected to reach 100M again.

I'm talking about the rise of mobile, not the economy

nope, great numbers, cant always expect a console to sell better every generation. Compared to the vita it is crushing, compared to other handhelds before it... it is still selling pretty good.