It's not just
Nintendo that's guilty of this. Ever since
Apple came out with the nifty "cute"
computers, everyone has been falling over themselves to put out the "
cool" semi-transparent
coloured cases.
VTech put out a 900Mhz phone, and now is selling the same item in a different case for $10 more.
Nintendo did have some items that extended the life of the console, such as the additional graphics module. Unfortunately, when they started putting out the same console in "tasty" colours, they didn't add anything electronic to the package. If they packaged the case with a game, like the new Pokemon yellow case with a game and controller, that's a different story.
I sure hope they're almost done with the new system. I bet you'll be right on the money, Jeff; when it comes out it'll be grey or black for the first year. After that' it'll be the vogue colour of choice.