In speaking with VG247, industry analyst Michael Pachter has said:

The larger [3DS] format is not all that compelling for the consumer, and although I think the XL will help sales, I don’t think that the impact will revive weak sales of handhelds overall.

But if people are willing to part ways with their money (as implied by the “will help sales” part), isn’t that considered compelling in some sense of the word? Still, this is somewhat removed from plain ol’ Nintendo-bashing. He’s also wary of the Vita:

Vita’s too expensive for most, priced pretty much the same as the PS3 everywhere. While I think the Vita is a good value and a great device, when compared to the PS3 it’s pretty expensive. Also, there is not much of a library of Vita games, so sales will probably be slow until we see more content.

As per usual, this analysis has little weight on anything in the real world though. It’s just an alternative perspective that helps break up our potentially-monotonous fanboyism for the 3DS.