Rumours have been rife on another DS redesign for quite a long time now, but it seems Nintendo has finally broached the subject and admitted that work is underway.

There hasn’t been much in the way of specifics just yet, but the all-new DS is reported to include music player facilities, a camera and ’improved’ connectivity. Each of these aspects raises its own set of questions, of course.

What about external storage for the music and photos? These aspects would naturally require some form of memory card, and considering the harsh rivalry with Sony, this is likely to take the form of SDHC micro cards. But how will the Big N tackle the piracy avenue such an addition opens up?

And does ’improved’ connectivity include some form of mobile data network? Nintendo’s pushed the connectivity of the DS quite hard, but relying on ad-hoc wifi hasn’t paid off as it might have hoped. It’s unlikely to become a telephone, but harnessing the massive appeal of mobile data networks such as 3G and HDPA would be a massive incentive for the huge install base to upgrade.

The DS has consistently been the hottest selling console since its release, though in recent months the Japanese market has been visibly leaning toward the PSP. It’s not like Nintendo to tackle the competition head on (preferring to dig itself a niche demographic and blocking the competition from entering), but these few new specifications suggest a revamped DS console that’s going to go toe-to-toe with the news PSP 3000 and the iPhone - the single greatest threat the DS has thus far seen.