People wonder why Nintendo would release a DS2 when the DS is doing so well..... if it's in every Japanese school as a student aid, entering Japanese businesses as a training tool, and 1 in 3* Japanese people already have one, why not release the next generation that is sure to be adopted by this massive audience though product placement alone?

Nintendo needs to take this opportunity to insert the DS into people's everyday home/work/school life and start giving out subsidies for DS2XL units to schools and businesses as student/teaching aids and by making the successor to the DS powerful enough to run a wide range of applications, not just for the games they want to make today, but for all the things they will want to do 2-3 years from now too.

Because the audience will ask"what does this do that my current DS doesn't that's worth the price tag?"

The only real reason to update is because software sales drop off.  The number of DS's sold has little to do with it.

Ummm Nintendo makes money off the hardware too, and if they can make a more powerful DS2 that would fit the needs of not only gamers but businesses and schools, then they would end up selling even more hardware with a DS2 than they did with a DS1.

Nintendo needs to release the DS2 while the DS is still hot in the minds of consumers and before someone else comes to market with something that steals their grip on the market.

When they release the DS2 it will be BC and it will play all the hot new software with lots of new features and lots more horsepower to allow multi-media capabilities at probably the same pricetag as the current DS. Why wouldn't you upgrade?

This would also push down the price of the current DS pushing those into the hands of the budgeted really late adopters who do their shopping in the bargain bins.

Nintendo's reasoning for not releasing a DS2 at this point is more about costs. The DS is so mass-produced and mass-sold and requires so little marketing and the costs are just falling more and more every day. The potential profit they'll make out of it (assuming sales don't tank overnight) will increase = more money for less effort.

A DS2 would mean having to start from scratch, so from their perspective why rush?

a release this holiday wouldn't be a rush, it would be Xmas #7 for the DS. Sales have slowed in Japan(Nintendo's #1 priority market) and tales of a PSP2 are forever being whispered in their ears while the very sight of people using those iPhones threaten their very existence as the King of touchscreen on-the-go gaming. They have to make a move to stay ahead of the pack and protect their throne to the kingdom that they have ruled over since the beginning.

It only makes sense to me since PSP2 is rumored to have a touchscreen and a phone version (which means 3/4G enabled) and the iPhone is getting yearly upgrades and ports of games that won't even come to Wii.

does it really take a ds to train mcdonalds empoloyees? Or have the Japanese youth become such asocial techno-morlocks that they can't learn menial jobs without some sort of technological assistance?

touch screen allows them to practice the picture button register setup without actually occupying a register during business hours. Now they can train at home on their own time.
It can also quiz them on how long to microwave the burger for a big mac vs an angus 1/4 pounder and what time to switch from cooking egg mcmuffins and french fries over to mc chickens and apple pies.