No updated Wii until at least 2012
According to Reggie Fils-Aime, President and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, there won't be a Wii update until at least 2012.
Fils-Aime releaved this information in an interview with Kotaku:
I asked Reggie the question this morning during an interview at the hotel he's using this week in Manhattan: "Wii 2 is not a must for next holiday?"
His answer: "No."
...
"As we sit here today we're saying the Wii has many, many more units to sell," he said today. "After we've reached an installed base of 45 million here in the U.S., we can have a conversation about the next generation. "
Nintendo has sold some 75 million Wii units worldwide, and some 35 million in the US.
This makes sense. First, Nintendo already has the 3DS in the pipeline that will undoubtedly be a hit for the 2011 holiday quarter, so that will buoy Nintendo's sales. Secondly, it seems to be a trend amongst console makers to stretch out the lifecycle of consoles as much as possible by releasing updates and accessories (the Wii and PlayStation 3 was released November 2006, while the Xbox 360 is a year older, hitting the shelves November 2006).
It's expensive to develop new consoles, and in an economy where people are careful with money, releasing a new one is a gamble. So why gamble?