Underpaid, starving workers in foreign nations, is my guess.

Based on gaming history, a 'new' console should be the next giant leap for a hardware company. It should unseat the previous console as the company's primary platform of focus, and to be successful, should offer innovations in consumer console tech while still boasting a relevant and market friendly library for its audience.

You can compare 3DS-->N3DS to DS-->DSLite, and DSLite-->DSi. Just another redesign in the same gen, despite this one having more upgrades than usual. Confusing as hell, I know.

The jumps between generations used bring a lot of new things to the table when developer had to bypass the new hardware's limitations while keeping the skills they acquired in the last one in mind, but now they just upped the graphical fidelity imo.

Hardware is not the issue as we have seen with the rising popularity of planet destroying PCs, even though consoles are generally used as an anchor of what kind of game developers could make. Games are getting homogenized, with an almost identical control scheme. I think that "diminishing returns" is a theme for this generation unless the cycle gets broken and games can be unique again without having a publisher that has a lot preconsiptions of what gamers like on their back. 

P.S. I'm just being cynical here, but I still have high hopes for this generation. 

I think it's a bit of a stretch to regard the N3DS as the first and only 9th generation console developed and on the market, but I'm assuming that was not the question so much as whether the N3DS should be considered by consumers to be a new platform.

I see no indications that Nintendo is planning on phasing out the 3DS/2DS, or for 3rd party support to ramp down as well in favor of N3DS support. Nintendo could announce that the next Mario Kart, Mario Bros., Smash Bros and Zelda games are N3DS only, which would signify the former, but they haven't. It sounds like at most, in the interest in selling to the largest consumer base, there will be additional features or output modes (hardware enhanced) for games that take advantage of the updates, while still being playable on 3DS hardware.

I consider it a new console, even if it is more of a .5 update like a S model iPhone. It's definitely a bit more of an upgrade than the DSl or DSi, which were strictly redesigns, due to the upgraded specs that make games that require the faster hardware and additional memory run only on the new hardware.

We still have to hear other possible exclusives for the N3DS. For now, they have been focusing more in the new things it can do, rather that the new games.

Which emphasizes hardware update rather than new platform. 

When marketing wants to sell a new platform, they tend to place emphasis on the games you will want to buy a new piece of hardware in order to play.

Although now that I've gone over the specific differences between the N3DS and the 3DS, I'm a bit more inclined to go with hardware update, rather than new console.

256MB memory, up from 128MB. VRAM updated. Face tracking to improve 3D effect angle. Extra analog nub and two extra shoulder buttons (incorporating the Pro Pad input). NFC for Amibo compatibility. Faster CPU.

Those were the main updates. The output resolution remains unchanged, not that this is the metric for a new console.

For me it's pretty obvious that the N3DS is a new console although it's not a new generation.

The New 3DS could become the new Nintendo handheld, if Nintendo actually starts supporting it with important exclusives and if the old 3DS stops getting that much suport! At least that's how I see things.

Usually completely new hardware. N3DS isn't a new console because the only thing that was really upgraded was the cpu. Almost every console has the majority of their internal components improved when there is a generational leap.