Untamoi said:
There is a big difference between Sony, MS and Nintendo. Nintendo only makes video games so their name represents videogames (names like Gameboy and DS are not important). For MS and Sony over 90% of their business comes elsewhere so their name doesn't represent anything. "Did you get new Nintendo" means "did you get new Nintendo video game console" while "Did you get new Sony (or Microsoft)" could mean anything (ok, most would think MS as Windows and Sony as TV. Nobody as video game console).
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You really think that the name Gameboy is not important? Have you ever heard anyone talking about a portable Nintendo? For ages, Gameboy was a synonym for handheld, just like Playstation is (maybe was) a synonym for a home console and a Nintendo has been earlier.
You sure have a point as long as you're talking about home consoles, but I never doubted that. I know that the names of the Nintendo consoles never mattered in the way the other two brands do, but that is definitely different with handhelds. Nintendo had one hell of a brand with the Gameboy, but while still succeding, they understood that it is time to let the brand, together with a good piece of the market behind it, go, in order to gather a new market.
The thing is, a known brand always has positive and negative sides. While Gameboy was really the same as handheld, it was also just a kids toy, and Nintendo understood that calling their new console Gameboy DS would have made it harder to get into new markets. The same goes for playstation, it is really a synonym for a home console, but it's also connected with teens just playing FPS and sports games all the time, so Sony has to think if they still want this image in future or if they want to change it.