Oh boy, where to begin.
1. It sounds to me like you guys in AUS are getting ripped off, big time. From what I've heard this would not be the first time, and won't be the last. Still sucks, though.
I think you're massively overestimating the cost of the Switch's fancy features, and underestimating Nintendo's stupidity when designing the Wii U. Yes, the gamepad was a major contributer to the expensive price, but they also used a heavily customized, unique, and expensive chip in the main console to preserve backwards compatibility. The whole design was a mess.
The Switch, on the other hand, has a Tegra chip, which is based on the most common CPU architecture available today, and has a couple of half-controllers with... what? A couple of extra rumble motors? There's nothing in there that wasn't already in the Wiimote besides a couple of small batteries. If the joycons are adding $15 to the base price I would be very surprised. You also keep saying they're "kinect like" in the thread, but there's no indication that this functions anything like the Kinect -- I mean, the lack of the camera is a dead givaway. The most expensive components of the Switch are without a doubt the SoC and screen.
2. Yes, the battery life is disappointing. External batteries will mitigate some of the sting, but I would much prefer 5-10hrs, as unrealistic as that might be for a device with these specs. Crossing my fingers for Nyko to make some kind of battery case.
3. The portable market has been dwindling for the past 7 years, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to assume that it will fade to nonexistence(no matter how much you want it to). We'll just have to wait to see where it flatlines. Smartphones have the specs, but as far as software goes you're hard pressed to find an experience as satisfying as most games on the GBA. There will always be a market of people who are willing to spend the extra money for the more fulfilling experiences made available by dedicated gaming hardware.
I also don't think Gamefreak, or Apple for that matter, can just "buy" more than half of their shares if Nintendo isn't willing to sell.
4. I'm going to take a "wait and see" approach to the online argument, buy yes. It looks really bad right now. Thankfully these things can improve with time.
I think you're making a mistake in assuming that the Switch will see software droughts like the Wii U, or even the Wii. That's the whole point of combining their handheld and console development. Nintendo was running into the same problem that Sony faced with the Vita: There are only so many resources to go around, and development on both the handheld and console front are simultaneously becoming exponentially more expensive. Ultimately, even Sony, who, if I might add has more, larger studios than Nintendo, had to make the decision to support their more successful front, and now Nintendo has done the same, except it reverse. There's also the happy fact that, unlike Sony, the majority of Nintendo's console offerings have the pick-up-and-play accessability that will make them work just fine on a handheld, with a couple exceptions. Good thing the Switch also functions as a bit of a console, too.
Honestly, as a person who prefers handheld gaming to console gaming, the Switch is a godsend. Phone gaming is a joke, in my humble opinion. Without the Switch there would be absolutely nothing to look forward to in this arena, besides stuff like the Smach Z and GPD Win.
