The article is questionable 'cos it speaks of "industry analysts" and sorta wreaks of the Sponge thing, plus it's unclear in itself on wether it's a new GameBoy or a GBA re-design AND there's the whole "it's $99" in one paragraph and then it's "one hundred dollars or more" in another. Pfft. But I like so speculate so here goes...
If it's a redesign of GBA...why? GBA is phasing out in software...a hardware re-design won't revamp it in the face of NDS, PSP & the next GB also on the market...plus GBA Sp is good enough for the whole "let's redesign it" purpose. It would distact from NDS sales, confuse people more and put even more doubt into consumers mind who'll see Nintendo's portables as something that come and go year by year. And if there's some feature(s) they wanna add so desperatly, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a re-design who's main purpose is to streamline a system for more appeal and higher profits.
Whatever features they want to add to the existing GBA (or the NDS for that matter, since it has a GBA cart slot) can be done thru add-ons. Media features, PDA features, etc. could all be implimented into a single cart with the software on it to run it and maybe an SD card slot for storage...which is probably what the "Nintendo V Pocket" thing is.
So, if it's not a GBA re-design, then it's probably the next GB...which we all saw coming. There really is NO easy way for Nintendo to release a new GameBoy since the NDS just came out, but they have to 'cos GBA is winding down and PSP is coming. Alot of people think NDS was just a stop-gap mess of a mistake. I disagree...Nintendo could not make a PSP level competitor about remain profitable in the portable sector and even if they somehow could have there would still people in & out of the industry who would believe the PSP is better...so releasing an an impractical (less durable, less battery life, less profitable, etc.) portable to compete with PSP on just power alone wouldn't have worked. So Nintendo went the profitable, innovative 3RD tier route with the give-in that there would be a new GameBoy soon after. Giving the NDS more non-gaming functions, testing out online and download services on it will keep it around, plus having it as a unique two-screen self-contained (no connectivity really) system that'll be super cheap and be like a legacy system (like iQue even) will make it a great system for the budget market *totally sperate* from the Nintendo console & GameBoy lines.
A next generation GameBoy should trump PSP on all levels and do it cheaper for Nintendo and cheaper for the buyer. It should have a comparable or better: screen, control layout, durability, battery life, media format, graphics output, features, etc. all of which I think is doable. Staples in the GameBoy line have always been price, durability & battery life so I give this to Nintendo already. Graphics power is totally doable too as the GCN chipset is already very small and could easily be applied to portable form. Screen is a lil' questionable, but I think Nintendo could at least match PSP on this given time. Features...hmmm, Nintendo has become more open to things like music & video playback, plus WiFi and if the PDA rumors are true, then that too...I don't see why they couldn't further do this with the next GB too, that plus I think it'll also feature a better control layout (Revolution controls?) and probably a touch screen which easily trumps PSP. The media format is the "wildcard" here I guess.
Alot of people would love GCN disc compatibility out of the box, but I just don't see this as doable. What about multiplayer (if they couldn't get GBA multiplayer to work on NDS, then how would you expect console level multiplayer to work on the next GameBoy?), what about peripherals, connectivity, memory cards, what about games that require alot of loading (disc spinning), what about games that are resolution sensitive (text)...these are all issues that can't be fixed practically. Plus having a disc drive drains battery life...especially a drive that spins a disc for home use and not portable use. The big library would be nice to have day one, but new developements on the platform are dwindling as we speak...so no, this wouldn't be ideal. However, ports from GCN to a GCN level portable are still there, just like the NDS/N64 & GBA/SNES before it...which is an easy way to make money. But on what kind of format? I'm thinking a built-in HD plus a GBA cart slot (for BC, peripherals, etc.). So it'd be a PSP-level GameBoy + iPod-like portable all-in-one.
The idea is that you could play games directly from new (higher capacity than NDS) GameBoy carts or games downloaded into it's built-in HD. Games can be downloaded via kiosks -OR- at home thru your Revolution. Content for these games would come from a download network or Revolution discs. This could essentially revolutionize portable gaming by distributing games cheaply thru means of putting them onto the discs with their console counterparts or putting them on networks where they can be downloaded for a small fee. This also helps the multi-media & battery aspects of the next GameBoy making it more appealing than the PSP.
And for those people who still want to play GCN games on the go they could release a discman sized GCN that can link to the new GameBoy (or GameBoy's for multiplayer) using it's screen & controls to play. The small unit would run under it's own power and be set up like the PSone.