Nintendo tried to emulate a lot of what Apple was doing back then since the DS and specifically the Wii launched. Anyone who bought a Wii could attest to how the minimalistic design of the box and the disposition of its internal contents ressembled a lot an iPod from those days. Apple often focus more on the side of efficiency rather than raw performance, so that is a lot like Nintendo too, though Nintendo often opts for outdated or more uncommon technologies, unlike Apple, which pushes for the mainstream cutting edge.
Sony, though, often ressembled Samsung a lot more, being a huge eastern conglomerate targeting consumer electronics and striving for higher quality. Besides the Xbox division after the RRoD problem was fixed, Microsoft has an unfavourable track of their hardware products underperforming on quality or market acceptance - just remember the Zune, the Surface, their PC peripherals, or the Windows Phone, which, heck, basically finished Nokia. So I don't think Microsoft is a good comparison here.
