Apple did revolutionize with the first iPhone, and than with the iPad, they`re products arent innovative anymore but they still at least great compared to other models. The iPod wasn`t the first mp3 player, but was the best of them at the time, and they made iTunes, wich was a revolution in how to buy music. The iPhone may have not been the first smartphone, but was the first good and accessible ( in a point of usability) for the great public. Look like how phone designs were 2 years before and 2 years after, and look at the post-pc revolution that followed.

Nokia mistake was, like every other phone maker at the time, to ignore the iPhone and not responding properly when there was still time.

For nintendo, they made a huge comeback with the Wii after two failures in home consoles, and made the DS, wich went to be the best selling handheld of all time. They still can get it right,  if they just stop trying to make a revolution and just a really good console with really good games from first-party and specs that making porting easier to get third-parties, it will do just great, may not dominante, but won`t bleed money.

For the comment that there needs to be US consoles and products for US publics, it just no the case. The best selling console of all time is ps2, and there were the xbox already at the time. They buy loads of cars made from eastern automakers, the second biggest phone seller is korean, the best selling console today is japanese, the best selling last gen was also japanese, best selling tv brands are eastern and go on...

A few years back, maybe. They've been trimming back their electronics and they primarily make games, movies, and sell life insurance.

I think it is less "unable to" as opposed to " realizes it's completely pointless to".

GameCube was traditional console and even was worst selling Nintendo console at that point, it made profit for Nintendo.

This is more about image, pedigree and connection than sheer funds. The modern core market is just not somewhere Nintendo would perform very well; they have done their own thing since the beginning and suddenly changing that won't make a difference, they would likely have perished already if they applied this mindset in the 90's.
Surviving on niche customers is better than being eaten alive competing for the mainstream, the market quite simply can't accomodate three consoles targeting the exact same group and someone would have to go, it is no huge mystery who would most likely go under first under these conditions.

I'm pretty sure that they can afford it.

Problem is is that they don't really have the core audience of gamers, nor the good relations with third parties that would make a powerful platform worth it anymore.

Pretty sure they stand to make a lot of money from the PS4 over the next 4-5 years. 

Rol didn't you learn anything from the Wii Generation, sony isn't doing it for the profit, they are well organized charity for gamers and microsoft is greedy evil corporation bent on eating all the profits up. So no one cares about profits, it is about sales numbers. 

You act as if Nintendo should invest all their decades worth of profit into a device LOL. What if that device failed? They would lose all their money. Nintendo is smart enough to not do this.

The rate that they research, develop, produce, market, and sell their devices makes their company a lot safer just in case something like the Wii U occurs. They could survive 5 Wii U's in a row (with NO 3ds to help them, in this hypothetical) and then finally run out of money. They aren't Microsoft. They don't waste $5billion randomly on something like Minecraft. They are extremely frugile. 

Well likely no one is ever going to have a Wii type success in the industry again. That was very likely a one time thing and Nintendo also had something called the DS which was probably making as much money if not more. 

Nintendo's problem from a profit POV is a large portion of their profits the last 15 years have been dependant on very high yearly portable game machine shipments. 

Starting in the late 90s with the advent of Pokemon, Game Boy sales exploded, Nintendo was shipping 12+ million Game Boy Colors and that continued into the GBA which went even higher. The DS had a bit of a slow first year, but then took off like the rocket.

The problem is the 3DS is not holding this pace, last year's 3DS shipment was their lowest portable shipment in 18 years and this year's is going to be even lower as per their own sales targets. 

Nintendo can't have the same level of profit if they're only selling 7-9 million handhelds in a normal year with a peak of 12-13 mill. 12-15 mill used to be a "normal year", with 20-25 mill being a peak year. They need to find a way to get kids off their damn tablets and smartphones, but that is a mighty difficult task.