The 2DS is evidently aimed at three classes of people: Young children (due to the 3D harming their eyes), Pokemon fanatics (who most likely want a cheap solution to play Pokemon X and Y and honestly don't care about the 3D function), and parents (cheap way to play all their puzzle games, because that's what Nintendo have stereotyped parents as doing on their handhelds).
It's not compact, so it seems like more of a home-handheld to me. Durability...I won't even comment. The one thing that does intrigue me is that, as I've read somewhere, both screens are actually just one screen with a piece of plastic separating it this time. Does that mean that, if you break one screen, you break both? Meh.
It just seems really impractical. I don't disagree with Nintendo doing this, but I also don't really agree. To me, this just implies that the clamshell design was the reason it costed so much money. If someone doesn't post a video of the 2DS being snapped in half and them attaching a door hinge to it, I'll honestly do it myself (seems like a good parody).
And what about the positioning of these buttons? It seems really awkward having the controls on the top half of the device rather than the bottom...I don't like it at all, I'd never get used to it.
Overall, budget console, aimed at those three groups, could prove successful. Can't promise I won't laugh at people I see playing one of these in public, but y'know, that's just me. If they came out and said "Okay, the 2DS is now region-free", then I may consider getting one but right now, I'm happy with my launch 3DS.