I saw this coming.

oh well its just their opinion, think of it what you wish ...

well neither sony nor nintendo seem to be in a rush to bring out a new handheld anytime soon so we might not se eone until 2012

Just to make the point clearer ( http://vgchartz.com/ayearly.php )

Number of games per console that sold more than 250,000 copies in North America in 2008

PSP: 10
PS2: 21
PS3: 40
Nintendo Wii: 67
Nintendo DS: 78
XBox 360: 86

Number of games per console that sold more than 125,000 copies in North America in 2008

PSP: 31
PS2: 49
PS3: 86
Nintendo Wii: 100+
Nintendo DS: 100+
XBox 360: 100+

In 2006 The PSP sold 16 Million peices of software on 7 Million units of hardware, in 2007 the PSP sold 17 Million pieces of software on 11 Million units of hardware, and in 2008 the PSP sold 15 Million pieces of software on 15 Million units of hardware. In 2009 you can (pretty much) count on the PSP selling less than 16 Million peices of software in North America ... How is the PSP going to maintain its shelf space when the XBox 360, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS all sell 5 times as much software as the PSP does, and have far more software which sells in a high enough volume to justify the shelf space?

Many people may argue that the hardware sales of the PSP are still pretty good (and they are) but the problem is that retailers do not make much money on the hardware, and they tend to sell the hardware because that is the only way they can sell licenced software and accessories for a platform; and even the margin on software is not that great, and the software is only highly profitable because of the volume of software that they tend to sell.

It may not be what people want to hear, but if a retailer can make more money by stocking Barbie: Island Princess for the Wii than they can by stocking Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP they are going to drop their remaining copies of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops into the Bargain Bin and Barbie: Island Princess will take its place on the Wall.

@bdbdbd:
Put this way I agree, some stores could pull away PSP from the shelves, already now you don't find products with decent sales but not top-sellers in every store.
(For example there are chains like MediaMarkt-MediaWorld-Saturn that don't sell PC's with AMD CPU's, but this is not a good example , in this case it happens due to a deal with intel, they didn't sell AMD even during those long six years when Athlon outperformed P4).
@HappySqurriel:
I don't say you're wrong, if SW sales are poor, shelf space for it will be reduced or eliminated, but as long as HW sales are good you'll find enough stores selling it, particularly those having a smaller share of their revenue from SW.

@Ender: So let's see:

1. Yes i do know what logic is. Problem with the logic in your question was, that you asked will a device like DS and PSP be the futures mobile platform. The problem is, that there's no device like DS and PSP, only devices like DS or PSP. The smartphones are in the same category with PSP.

2. Actually i don't have one. But, they sell more than a billion mobile phones each year, a number that roughly equals all the games consoles and handhelds sold ever. Mobile phones should all have atleast built-in games and a huge number of the devices support Java applications. People play the games with their phones every now and them because it's easy pick them up.

3. The point is, that despite iPhone being a new product in the market, it has nothing new in it. Everything iPhone has in it, already exists in Nokia, Motorola, LG, Sony-Ericsson mobile phones. Apple is using its brand and clever marketing to make an issue about iPhone.
In the end, it was you who said that Wii is a success for the same reason iPhone will be, but the reason for Wiis success is, that Wii is different from the competition, while iPhone isn't. Not in games market and not in phones market.

@Alby: And there's also the thing that how much Sony is willing to push PSP into stores by using its other electronics as a stake. If they use their synergic advantages, PSP may very well have "extended" shelf life.

"Hmmm... wait hate the PS3.... Hey!!! Let's do the PSP next!! FUCK YOU SONY!!!"

Is what I'm thinking... But what do i know???

The world only has 3.3 billion people!

I think you need to re-check your facts, unless there was a plague that killed off half of the people in the world that I didn't hear about.

@Leo-j: 6,5 billion. It's propably every second or third year when people change their phones on average.