The debate whether or not the DS is a console is for another thread entirely, and I would be more focused on why the US alone was said. Focus on the WW numbers, because the US isn't the world.

I live in a big city and move around a lot, and I work with kids (13-19) for a living right now, I can go for weeks without seeing Wii Sports, Mario Kart or anything of the kind. The kids I see and meet play Call of Duty, FIFA, Counterstrike, LoL, WoW, DOTA and then mobile games for simpler fun.
Smartphones and tablets are utterly dominating restaurants, subways, airplanes and everywhere else you see families, I can't even remember the last time I saw someone out in public with a dedicated handheld console.
If there is anyone in the family section with iconic status, it has to be Apple and similar companies (this might change, however, with Nintendo going into the mobile industry as well).

There are two kids at work who love Nintendo a lot, they are also huge fans of anime and spend hours every day watching it; they both have a special interest in the Japanese culture and entertainment industry. Nintendo have disconnected more and more with the West, which everything from sales figures to consumer awareness supports, you don't need to look further than the confusion surrounding the Wii U and whether or not it was a Wii with a new controller to see this widespread lack of knowledge and insight into Nintendo by the more casual consumers and the sales show that the mainstream are falling off as well.

It's like I said; for us old gamer dogs, it's a different story, but among kids today, Nintendo do not have the same iconic position. The market has changed; Nintendo largely hasn't, some love that, the average modern gamer apparently doesn't.

Nintendo = all consoles iconic and great in their own way including handhelds

Playstation = two iconic consoles and great in the same way maybe a third with ps4 will see including handhelds or excluding in this case.

I would love to hear your reasoning as to how the Gamecube and Wii U are iconic...other than for their fantasic failures in the market place. I like both machines, but let's not pretend that the market gave a shit for either.

both are equally iconic, why everything has to be a pointless competition. Just like MS and Apple, both are equally iconic, regardless of your taste.

Yeah, that is true. But maybe they need to look for that franchise. However, I wouldn't want for a good franchise to become stale due to excessive milking.

I'm detecting levels of bias in your avatar. 

PS3 definitely wasn't the media favorite for gaming at first but regardless of Ryng's belief in past sales numbers being more important than recent sales, it did score second place. As for the PS4, it's outselling both is competitors combined on a weekly basis and holds more than 50% global market share. It's safe to say is the iconic Eighth Generation console. 

Nintendo was definitely almost all the way through. GC was a failure, as was the VirtualBoy. And Wii U continues to be a joke (that we all love).

Funny, because Nintendo released three new IPs this year, and they all had a good critical reception. And the old IPs reviewed as usual: Quite well. (Minus Mario Party 10, those always review average).

In my opinion, Nintendo still comes out on top. For the simple fact that no SONY character is as iconic as Mario, Luigi, Bowser. Link, Pikachu, etc. Gamers know who Kratos, Nathan, Sweet Tooth are... People outside the industry most likely don't. Character wise only Pac-Man can match Nintendo's greatest.

Both companies have innovated their fair share of things with their consoles and games. I believe they both are willing to try new things and think outside the box. So props to both.

sales - PS1 and PS2 dominated. DS and Wii dominated. Of course PS4 is winning this Gen, but I don't see it going over 100 millions.

Overall image: Everyone in the gaming industry looks up to both. But I would say they RESPECT Nintendo the most, because they've been around longer and their own business practices. SONY is basically a Western company nowadays.

So... IMO: Nintendo.still is the most iconic of both.

NO! We have to argue!

i like to argue too, but there's no point when the majority is saying "my favorite company is more iconic" lol