Blah.
If Nintendo wasn't planning on releasing the DS this holiday season, then people would be calling Nintendo stupid for not getting a head start, and for not releasing it during the busiest shopping season of the year.
I seem to recall that when the PSP was first annouced, many doubted Nintendo would come up with another portable to counter it. People said that Nintendo was getting complacent with its dominance in portable gaming, and that they would wait until after the PSP took a considerable chunk out of the GBA marketshare, and it would be too late.
I also seem to recall people complaining about how Nintendo took too long before they finally decided to release a significant upgrade to the Gameboy i.e. GBC and GBA.
Meh, whatever. I'm gladly going to pick up the DS at launch. If the rest of you want to wait 2+ years until a "DS SP" comes out, you'd better hope Nintendo continues to support the GBA after DS becomes its main portable.