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Barely a year and a half after being introduced in November 2004, Nintendo says it has sold more than 21 million Nintendo DS handheld game units.

Nintendo introduced the Nintendo DS handheld gaming system on November 21, 2004, and today the company announced that it has sold more than 21 million of the diminutive handheld gaming devices. Averaged out over time, that's almost one unit every two seconds since the product was launched.

"We're thrilled to be announcing this milestone today," says GeorgeHarrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing andcorporate communications, "especially since Nintendo DS was North America'stop-selling video game system of any type in June. We attribute thissuccess to Nintendo's overall strategy of offering something for everyone&mdashh;from five-year-olds caring for their Nintendogs to 65-year-olds tuning their mental agility with Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day."

Part of the DS's appeal is undoubtedly its game lineup—including the popular Nintendogs, Brain Age, and the Mario franchise—but might also be attributed to Nintendo's willingness to step outside the traditional zone of handheld games with the DS's Wi-Fi capability, built-in microphone, dual screens (including a touch screen). Nintendo recently rolled out the DS Lite, a slimmer, sleeker version of the original DS which has proven very popular in U.S. and Japanese markets.

Wondering if 21 million units is a lot? Back in 2001 to 2003, Apple sold only about a million iPod music players in the product's first 19 months. Of course, Apple sold over 8 million iPods in its most recent fiscal quarter.