Why is this surprising to people?
I doubt any of the established Nintendo IPs (Nintendo games are always based on gameplay first) would make good touch games... and Nintendo has millions of faithful customers that are very happy to get updates on games they know and love.
Imagine playing Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Metroid or the likes on an iPad - they'd all have to become very different games in the process and I just don't see Nintendo being interested in that at all.
The bigger issue is that Nintendo hasn't yet found the next big thing, which is usually what they excelled at. I think what Nintendo really needs is another chairman like Yamauchi was back in the day, someone who understands what people might get excited about and forces his teams to always deliver cool and innovative new things. The WiiU was planned as a machine that just continues the Wiis success, but since Motion Controls kind of died and people have moved on to other consoles, Nintendo is in somewhat of a rut right now.
I would've liked to see Nintendo figuring out how games could work in the VR space - something new, fresh, interesting. Most of Nintendos current games are definitely good and perfectly solid, but - to me - there's definitely a lack of excitement and innovation going on. I don't need another New Super Mario Bros, Pikmin was sort of a disappointment to me and Mario Kart is just yet another Mario Kart. And while Smash Bros will most likely be a very fun and solid title, it'll be yet another Smash Bros game.
People love innovation and Nintendo always used to be the company that wasn't afraid to innovate. The WiiU and its games are great, but definitely lack that innovative magic... His statements do remind me of the Nintendo during the GameCube days and we all know how that ended for them.