It's worth noting this isn't a proper actual forecast, but a "what-if", where Iwata has applied the current percent of Japan which owns a DS and applied it to the total population of Japan+US+Europe.
If he were to do the same calculation a year from now it would be even higher, since non-zero DS sales will make the percentage of the Japanese population which has a DS higher.
Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata says the Wii and Nintendo DS still have room to grow their audience.
He predicts that DS's total installed base in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. could reach reach an "ultimate potential" of 152.2 million units, driven by strong European sales and the system's "gaming population expansion."
@steveb, This is a very, very bad article. It is linking directly to R4 DS site, which is the bane of every software publisher. I am sorry, but I have to downbid this article, to encourage the poster to remove the article.
Multiple sources close to Nintendo tell IGN that the company has allegedly relayed to its partners that DSi will ship stateside in early April, most likely on April 4. Insiders assert that they have been told the system will retail for $179.99 when it launches domestically.
After selling millions and millions of DS units, you'd think Nintendo president Satoru Iwata would be bracing himself for a decline in sales. Heck, no!
Iwata sees DS sales as something that will continue to grow. His logic:
"Some say the market for the DS is saturated, but I disagree. In Japan, a country with a population of 127 million, we've sold 23 million DS units.Sales of the product could grow further in foreign countries considering their populations."
UK's HMRC says that hundreds of imported counterfeit consoles, mostly fake DS and DSL, were recently seized at UK freight depots. They were found to include adapters that the department deemed potentially dangerous, as they had not been electronically tested and do not meet UK safety standards.
The price is around £40 ($59), instead of the usual retail price of £100 ($147). The sites claimed that the systems were "genuine Nintendo products." Nintendo found them to be counterfeit.
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If he were to do the same calculation a year from now it would be even higher, since non-zero DS sales will make the percentage of the Japanese population which has a DS higher.