Posting this here instead of the reaction thread since it will get buried.
Obviously reality will bear out, but I think the decision to go un-dockable is clear signaling.
For Japan: Obviously cater to the preference of the market for handhelds - rather straightforward.
For ROTW:
Appeal to the DS crowd and re-route the adoption path for this market. The Switch Lite is not meant to primarily appeal to the crowd that already owns a Switch. Instead it is a lower-priced entry-point for the market at large, and the lack of docking features means that the OG Switch is now definitely an upgrade.
The big picture idea is to maximize Switches per household. A Switch Lite that still switches removes the need to ever purchase an OG Switch. Making it undockable means that there is true incentive in later "upgrading" by purchasing an OG Switch. The gamble here is that the Switch Lite is now the "go-to" and the OG (or a Pro down the line) is the 2nd/3rd/4th purchase in the household. Nintendo has to assume that this strategy will get more folks on their hardware than just having varying form factors for the same product.