"Given Nintendo's history, I can not imagine that they would treat this system anything like how they handled the Wii U."

Heh

Ehe

Heh

lol, I thought about that, but as a bare minimum it seems a pretty safe bet. The Wii U's problem was that without the gamepad it's still just an Xbox 360 with Nintendo games. Once PS4/XB1 rolled around and third parties started moving on in 2014-2015, Nintendo would still be left supporting the system on their own.

I think the Switch can reach 60M+ if Nintendo plays their cards right. The question is how they're going to transition 3DS users over to the Switch in the coming years. The added brand awareness from their movie deals, apps and parks should provide a good boost as well.

And lets not forget those "mid-core console skeptics!" I know they're out there somewhere.

If there's one thing the Switch will have or should have over the Wii U is that it won't have to share development time with a 3ds.

Nintendo's software output and any output from interested third parties all on one platform.

Yep, and at the same time they couldnt divert significantly more development resources to Wii U without hurting 3DS so the only thing they could really do was ride it out and try to minimize the damage.

3DS still has a solid year of life, a handful of small-medium Nintendo IP are releasing this year (Yoshi, Mario Sports, Fire Emblem, etc) alongside a few big 3rd party titles (Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest).

The best thing for Nintendo to do is let 3DS & Switch coexist for the next 1-1.5 years much like GBA & DS did and as the Switch library increases, the price decreases and a smaller, portable only revision releases, 3DS owners will begin to transition over more and more.

It wont happen, if a very popular console already struggle to reach 60M ( and even 50M if It wasnt for new 3DS) , its highly unlikely that à next handheld will when smartphones have éven more ground now than in 2011, especially à handheld console with paid online ! 

That plus thé fact it has no real third party support ( much less than WiiU actually) , à lot of Bad press and à Price way too high, it would already bé an Big achievement to pass GameCube in thèse conditions.

Well, I guess we'll just have to see. The Switch can potentially offer tablet and phone gamers more than the 3DS could have, but at this point it's just too early to tell what Nintendo will eventually do to attract them, if anything. There are still console gamers to appeal to as well. I do think people are making paid online out to be a bigger deal than it is, though. Nintendo is still pushing local multiplayer hard, and the kind of people who play these kinds of games online probably won't be disuaded by a little online fee when it really comes down to it.

I've been wondering if Nintendo would release a smaller, cheaper Switch with either mini joy-cons or built-in controls and sell it as a successor to the 3DS. It could potentially even still fit into the dock if they don't mess with the thickness. I'm just not sure what that would do to their branding. One of the biggest selling points of the Switch is the versatility of the joy-cons. Can you even call it a Switch without them?

I learned my lesson from the Wii and 3DS. I wont count Nintendo out until after the first 6 months have passed. I even held out hope for the Wii U for longer than average. When Nintendo has the juice, they can't be stopped. Problem is, I think they lost sight of what made them successful in the first place.

Well they released a 3DS model with no 3D so anything is possible.

Back in 2014 when Iwata first started talking about their next generation of hardware, he talked about having a unified platform where all software could be shared and that didnt necessarily mean they would only release a single device, rather it could be possible that the number of form factors could increase and have a larger "family of devices".

Releasing a hybrid device first to demonstrate the value of a unified platform followed by additional form factors designed for specific play styles is what i think we will see. I think within the next two years we will see a smaller, portable only model without detachable controls and a home console only model each sold at a lower price than the hybrid model.

They could release a clamshell design with Joycons right on the bottom side that slide out if they really wanted to, but I think people will be fine with the tablet form factor and even prefer that to the old clamshell design.

Clamshell is not the be-all, end-all, Nintendo made portables for damn near 14 years before they ever made a single clamshell designed handheld and sold millions and millions of Game Boys before the GBA SP. Too many kids here think clamshell = Nintendo portable ... no kids, there was plenty of time before the GBA SP/DS/3DS when Nintendo made portables with a different form factor. 

When I was growing up you sure as hell could not put your Game Boy in your jean pockets. 

Beyond that, tablet is the more popular form factor today.

who has said anything about a clamshell design?