IMO, the Wii U sale being just okay (not bad and not good) is due to how Nintendo has first a foremost marketed the console and secondly restricted the consoles potential as a media hub and home tablet.
The Wii U can easy be made into a multimedia console with support for DivX, MPEG-4 and all other popular video codecs with MP3 playback and photo viewing/editing and organizing.
At the same time the Wii U can be marketed as a Google TV replacement with a much more intuitive approach. With the Wii U's touch game pad and Tri-Core CPU, developers could easily create Android like apps (Photo Editor, Office Apps, etc) on the Wii U platform if Nintendo provides the tools for them to do so which could easily surpass current Google TV both in performance and ease of use.
Also, Nintendo forgot the fact that original Wii did very well and totally left motion controls and a huge Wii backwards compatibly library out of their marketing. If my memory serves me well, the consumers that are most likely looking into to upgrading to a Wii U are original Wii owner's.
The Wii U being more expensive and a bit less innovative at launch compared to the original Wii (which totally changed the ways games are now played), Nintendo has to make an effort to market to core gamers who are usually the ones to buy and try new consoles when they are released since they (the core gamers) always want the latest and greatest gadget.
Personally for myself I find the to be extremely fairly priced for what it offers, here's my breakdown:
Wii U Deluxe = $350
Wii U has touch pad with great internet browser (comparable to Chrome on Android) and some apps (for the time being, pretty sure Nintendo is going to release more with time) - Google TV is $125 without touch pad but has more apps and media playback via USB. - (Wii U touch pad + apps worth $100)
100% fully backwards compatible with Wii games and can upscale them via HDMI digital signal, basically has a Wii with HDMI adapter inside - Wii mini without WiFi or HDMI output is $100 but has Wii remote and nunchuk ready for Wii games, Wii HDMI adapters are $25. - (Wii hardware inside Wii U with visual upgrades worth $100)
Wii U can stream Wii U/Virtual Console games to game pad freeing up the TV (for some else to watch or just to save power usage when alone), basically a DS around the where the console is setup. - (worth nothing but a really nice feature to have)
So the math is $350 minus $200 worth of real hardware features = $150 you're paying for a Wii U console with 32GB internal storage which runs silent compared to the 360 and PS3 and uses less than half the power consumption.
An Xbox 360 4GB goes for $150 - $200 price range, yes it has apps and Internet Explorer but at an expense for $60 per year for Live Gold and on top of all that who really wants to use apps and Internet Explorer on a controller anyways.
I think the Wii U is totally worth it's price tag and more, the only thing left now is software releases and added features (apps more apps, and media playback and streaming) via update to attract more consumers.
The Wii U can easy be made into a multimedia console with support for DivX, MPEG-4 and all other popular video codecs with MP3 playback and photo viewing/editing and organizing.
At the same time the Wii U can be marketed as a Google TV replacement with a much more intuitive approach. With the Wii U's touch game pad and Tri-Core CPU, developers could easily create Android like apps (Photo Editor, Office Apps, etc) on the Wii U platform if Nintendo provides the tools for them to do so which could easily surpass current Google TV both in performance and ease of use.
Also, Nintendo forgot the fact that original Wii did very well and totally left motion controls and a huge Wii backwards compatibly library out of their marketing. If my memory serves me well, the consumers that are most likely looking into to upgrading to a Wii U are original Wii owner's.
The Wii U being more expensive and a bit less innovative at launch compared to the original Wii (which totally changed the ways games are now played), Nintendo has to make an effort to market to core gamers who are usually the ones to buy and try new consoles when they are released since they (the core gamers) always want the latest and greatest gadget.
Personally for myself I find the to be extremely fairly priced for what it offers, here's my breakdown:
Wii U Deluxe = $350
Wii U has touch pad with great internet browser (comparable to Chrome on Android) and some apps (for the time being, pretty sure Nintendo is going to release more with time) - Google TV is $125 without touch pad but has more apps and media playback via USB. - (Wii U touch pad + apps worth $100)
100% fully backwards compatible with Wii games and can upscale them via HDMI digital signal, basically has a Wii with HDMI adapter inside - Wii mini without WiFi or HDMI output is $100 but has Wii remote and nunchuk ready for Wii games, Wii HDMI adapters are $25. - (Wii hardware inside Wii U with visual upgrades worth $100)
Wii U can stream Wii U/Virtual Console games to game pad freeing up the TV (for some else to watch or just to save power usage when alone), basically a DS around the where the console is setup. - (worth nothing but a really nice feature to have)
So the math is $350 minus $200 worth of real hardware features = $150 you're paying for a Wii U console with 32GB internal storage which runs silent compared to the 360 and PS3 and uses less than half the power consumption.
An Xbox 360 4GB goes for $150 - $200 price range, yes it has apps and Internet Explorer but at an expense for $60 per year for Live Gold and on top of all that who really wants to use apps and Internet Explorer on a controller anyways.
I think the Wii U is totally worth it's price tag and more, the only thing left now is software releases and added features (apps more apps, and media playback and streaming) via update to attract more consumers.