Nintendo will have two basic goals with their next home system:
1. Lure in new customers
2. Keep current customers i.e. Wii owners
It's 5 times as expensive to lure in a new customer than it is to keep a current customer on average.
They've done well with Wii to retain their GameCube customers with Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, BWii etc all coming in the first year of launch followed by Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii.
They've also done well to draw in new customers with Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and to a lesser extent, Wii Music.
Now going into the next generation, they'll have two distinct groups to retain while still going after more new consumers. Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus will keep the expanded audience happy with Wii while Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid: Other M will keep the core audience happy.
I think next generation will see this kind of balance but also new audience expanding initiatives like Wii Vitality and more bridge titles like New Super Mario Bros Wii. How will Nintendo go about the console itself? Well Iwata has stated that they don't really see the console as that important but the experience it provides is what is important. They've said they think HDTV adoption will be high enough that their next console will provide a HD experience. Outside of this standard Nintendo will have to look at their consumers and consider what is important to keep them happy with Nintendo and upgrade from Wii.
Iwata knows that the Wii Remote doesn't have enough buttons for titles like Monster Hunter 3. This is an improvement that can be made that will add value to the N6 for the core audience. Will Nintendo try to disrupt the market once again? A market disruption will only work if the values of the market have been overshot which this gen were graphics and high power, consumers may simply want more refined motion controls next generation and if Nintendo were to disrupt the market again, the consumer may simply choose the Micrsoft or Sony alternatives to get their motion fix.
We know that the hardware will be HD capable and we know that Nintendo's developers will want a more powerful system to work with, especially the Zelda team.. As much as they will focus on the consumer, they also want to add value to the company, profit is one such way to add value but a strong third party library, a more diverse userbase and even stronger brand recognition and trust are other ways in which they will be looking to add value to the company. A relatively similar spec to the competitors even without touting that is a good way to achieve some of these.
I think the next year or two will dictate how the N6 will be designed as Nintendo sees how well the competitors motion controls are recieved and how well their latest efforts (Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Vitality, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Super Mario Galalxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Zelda Wii etc) push the console forward and keep consumers satisfied.
