Hm, you know if Nintendo is still worrying about power consumption, I can see why getting rid of the optical drive might be something they're considering. No electric engine to spin it, no laser to read it. Just good old fashioned direct copper to copper connections between game card and console. That's a good 20-30W saved right there. It also gets faster load times, less noise, and more room for other components, or a smaller form factor outright.
With flash capacity and price getting better and better as time goes on, maybe switching to cards like the 3DS is not a bad idea? It's certainly not something to write off immediately.