It wont launch until Holidays 2017, not until it has a formal unveiling probably at E3 2016 (1.5 years before release), this has been Nintendos and other developers usual practice 

GC

First spoken about at NPC 1999

First unveiling at a press conference in 2000

Launch - Holidays 2001

Wii

First spoken about at E3 2004

First unveiling at E3 2005 

Launch - Holidays 2006

WiiU

First spoken about at E3 2010

First unveiling at E3 2011

Launch - Holidays 2012

The Wii U was designed with mainly Japan in mind and thus Nintendo failed as not even the majority of major Japanese publishers bothered to bring games over to it despite the Wii U being more economical to work on compared to developing for a PS4. You think they would have learned from the Wii.

It really isn't necessary to have such a long time between announce/reveal/release anymore, back in the day it made sense but with the internet and social media being a major part of most people's lives, word spreads fast and it's completely unecessary to show the device 1.5 years before it releases. Look at PS4, it was formally announced, had a big E3 blowout and released in the same calender year and went on to have a record launch.

I think Nintendo will formally reveal it during a Nintendo Direct while also having a media event like they had for New 3DS sometime in March 2016, then a big blowout in June at E3 with a bunch of demos of launch window games and trailers for 2017 games then probably another event in September like they had for Wii/Wii U which will have more launch details like release date, launch lineup, price. Then finally it will release globally in Nov/Dec 2016.

Fundamentally we have no idea. Nintendo could also take their time in the past as they had at least one good selling system at the time of all those previous announcements. 

People don't realize how low Nintendo's 3DS sales are sinking. At a target of only 9 million 3DS' for this fiscal year (one they are very likely to miss), Nintendo is looking at the lowest handheld shipment they've had in like 20 years. And the Wii U is selling very poorly, obviously as well. 

Also the handheld time line for reveal to launch is much tighter. 

DS was unveiled at E3 2004 and launched six months later. 3DS was announced in March 2010, and was released less than a year later (Feb 2011 in Japan). 

So these things are obviously subject to the situation. 

It could also be that Wii U/3DS sales are so weak right now they could have shown a hardware tease for NX at this past E3 but opted not to to preserve whatever holiday sales this year that they can. 

Actually the 3DS forcast is 7.6 million

Oops, yeah was looking at the previous year forecast. Yeah ... that's really ... really low. I'm not sure if they'll even hit that, but if they do it will be Nintendo's lowest handheld shipment for a year since 1996. Basically you have to go back to before the creation of Pokemon to get a number that low. 

So likely right now we are looking at the lowest period for Nintendo hardware sales since they started making both a handheld + console (1989). 

As such I think there is considerable more motivation to end this generation, which has been all kinds of terrible for Nintendo, and start fresh. 

They simply can't go several years with handheld shipments in the 5-7 million range, and console shipments hovering around 3 million. That will really kill Nintendo's ability to hit their financial targets. 

If you think about it they really announced NX long ago during that shareholders meeting. Maybe even longer. I don't think that this time will be like last time and that Nintendo is in a rush to get the system out sooner rather than later. I'm fully expecting a 2016 launch. Plus that Nintendo is actively and constantly reminding us about it. This leads me to believe they want to push this gen out of the way and towards the NX. Which makes sense.

Maybe, anything is possible, but it just doesnt fit with their history 

I think Nintendo is actively trying to cut down on announcing things too early these days.

I mean two years into the SNES lifecycle they had already announced its successor (Project: Reality, aka the N64).

They wouldn't do that today.

Partly because of Apple I think, today it's much more common to have a product announcement and then have the product on sale shortly thereafter. Having people wait 2-3 years doesn't fly anymore like it did in the 90s/early 2000s.

No one wants to be shown an iPhone 7 and then be told "now wait two years for this!". That's ridiculous in today's electronics market. 

If they have been actively hoarding games for NX, like a real Animal Crossing and the next 3D Mario (perhaps Zelda multiplat release too), then they very easily could launch in 2016. It's software that's almost always the hang up, not the hardware. 

Hardware wise the N64 was ready to launch in 1995, the GameCube in 2000 ... they just didn't have games ready. But given how terribly the Wii U has done from almost day 1, they likely made the call to not (for example) give the Wii U a proper Animal Crossing or Metroid Prime game over a year+ ago. 

This is a PR disasters , they just shoot an arrow in the foot , this will give a bad impact on NX pre release, they should have keep quite before they finally shows the system. Overall i am agree and disagree.