With the same breath you have to say "like the Virtual Boy was a third pillar and failed miserably". In fact, I'd argue that the whole "DS being a third pillar" hooplaloo was all smoke and mirrors anyways - it was natively compatible with GBA games and it was a natural progression of the hardware design judging by the SP, bar the touchscreen which was an experiment. The GBA Micro was never an actual continuation of the Game Boy line to me, rather just a vanity item for collectors. Things were different with the Virtual Boy which was something "new" from the ground up. Anywho, my point is that I get the feeling they want to try something new without burning bridges behind them - if it's adopted by the masses, great, they'll head that direction, if not, they have their older brands to cushion them.