Wouldn't it be easier to just go to where your audience is instead of trying to inconvenience them onto a different platform?

The games are not for the fans. They are just a means to make people aware of their franchises and hopefully get them interested in their systems.

I guess we'll see how that will work on the 3 people who don't know about Mario or Nintendo yet. Don't you think those people would rather demand more content on their preferred platform than go out and buy a whole seperate platform for a thing they just got to know?

Its not about knowing who Mario is. Its about introducing people to Mario and other Nintendo games. Theres probably alot of people who dont buy a Nintendo console because they dont think they will like the games, think they are for kids only, none of their friends have one for them to try etc. Pokemon Go has already had an impact, now its Marios turn.

Effect of Pokemon Go on Pokemon RPG sales was significant, but nothing big, and is now steadily declining. So basically Nintendo has to reach 500m downloads per app to attract about 200k new customers. Doesn't sound like anything to be excited about, especially when you consider Pokemon Go to be the most popular app in the world.

It depends what the NX is. If the NX seems to be more attracting to the "smartphone" audience than the 3DS and the Wii U, then we can see some high numbers. 

We haven't seen yet a orchestrated launch of a mobile game before a connected dedicated-device-game. Interesting in this case are the numbers of Pokemon Sun/Moon. Competitiors like Bethesda already had a huge success with their mobile game advertising Fallout 4 and even made millions with the mobile game itself. Even if it is just a small success…Nintendo earns money and saves money for advertising. Win-Win.

People act as if every game Nintendo ports to smartphones will have similar effects to Pokemon Go.

This runner game will be big, no where near as big as Pokemon Go though. It will obviously increase brand awareness but the NX needs to be a good gaming machine for it to be fruitful.

Haven't they learned their lessons? Their focus at young children will not work in the long run. Everywhere these children goes they see other children playing games on other consoles with flashier graphics.

Have you not learned your lesson? Graphics don't sell hardware in the mass market.