It seems that this only ever confuses the press, and not any actual consumers who actually do basic research and think rationally about the products they spend their money on.

I think the real problem here is that it's called "new" without actually being a new system. It's like a DSi: A handful of games will be exclusive or enhanced (like 30fps on the old model and 60fps on the new one) but 90% of the library will be playable on all versions. I think they'll even keep producing the older models and drop them in price, because why not? So while the "New iPad" actually was a new generation iPad this is not a new handheld and things will get confusing in 2016 or so when Nintendo's next gen handheld will be released.