Iwata: Assumptions about shrinking handheld market are untrue

- Nintendo CEO and president Satoru Iwata dismissing the notion of iPhones hogging all the portable game players, and making dedicated handhelds irrelevant. Though there's a belief that the flourishing mobile game market is killing off dedicated handhelds, the executive claims that Nintendo's hardware and software sales in that space have been healthy despite signs that might indicate otherwise. 3DS system sales in Japan, for instance, reached 7 million last week, which is close to keeping pace with sales for the original DS and DS Lite (which benefited from two Christmases at this point, instead of one), even though it's now competing with mobiles, tablets, and free-to-play games. Iwata also noted that software sales for 3DS are exceeding those of the original DS. Those points give some credence to his argument, but it all goes against the trends many have seen in their own lives, as well as the data published by analysts.