I've been seeing people here and on other sites citing how the Wii U is still selling below other consoles as proof that it's not going to do well. Wanting to confirm whether or not it sounded like the fanboy hyperbole it came off as, I went back and looked at some articles about sales around '06 and '07. I found some intriguing articles:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/71065-PS2-Sales-Hold-Strong-Drive-Sales-For-Q1-2007

"The PlayStation 2 sold 280,000 units in March, the final month of Q1 2007, more than doubling the 130,000 unit sales of the PlayStation 3, Sony's next-gen system. In fact, the PlayStation 2 handily outsold all of its next-gen brethren in March: Microsoft put out 199,000 Xbox 360 systems, while Nintendo sold 259,000 Wii consoles, although this number was cut short by supply shortages."

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/09/14/360_finally_overtakes_ps2_in_us_sales/1

"Microsoft's Xbox 360 had finally outsold Sony's Playstation 2. These numbers only account for one month but it's bound to make the Microsoft guys happy. Sony has trumpeted the fact that the PS2 has outsold the 360 ever since its launch."

Note that the second article was posted in September of '07--almost TWO YEARS after the 360 launched. 

Look, I get it. I never bought a Wii. Right now, I'm content to wait for what MS and Sony are offering next year, and don't have any plans to buy a Wii U right now. But this nonsense about how "oh, the Wii U is selling less than current-gen consoles, its clearly fucked" is ridiculous. You can just look at the early years of this generation as proof that it doesn't mean anything in the long run. After all, people said the Wii being weaker would keep it from going anywhere, motion controls be damned, and look how that worked out.

If the numbers cited above are wrong, and you have proof, then post them and let me see. Otherwise, just let it go.

Well, that's to be expected. I don't think anyone out there with any knowledge of the industry expects next-gen consoles to come close to the install base of the Wii/360/PS3 generation. It'll probably be larger than the GCN/Xbox/PS2 gen, most likely in between that and the current gen.

I mean we're talking an install base this gen of 242 million vs last gen's 166 million.  Apples and oranges.

There still are few games available on WiiU, and most blockbusters such as GTA5, Bioshock I., etc, won't come to WiiU, at least, soon.

you can not argue nothing with fanboys so just let them say whatever they want :)

You can't compare the sales of last gen to this gen at the start, for one the 360 was $400 at its cheapest in the US and over $500 in other countries. The PS3 was $600 to $1000 depending on country. The PS2 was around $150?, if not for the price difference the 360/ps3 would have outsold it.

The WiiU is roughly the same price as this current gen and is being ousold by alot. Unless you price the WiiU below last gen it will not outsell it.

I expect the same thing, as I don't expect any of the three consoles to crush the other two the way the PS2 did last gen. I expect something similar to what we have now, with all three consoles within striking distance of each other in lifetime sales--even if the order changes.

What's important is that the Nintendo Family is doing much better than the competition.

(Tongue in cheek.)

This is normal with every new console, specially a "lone wolf"  in the new gen like the Wii U currently is. Only the Wii (and the 360 I guess) have been a different story but considering it's high success and the not so successful Gamecube there is no surprise here. But yeah for a lot of people (thankfully not much on this site) the Wii U is the worst selling console in history.

Well, the Wii U isn't really the next step in graphics or gameplay. It's a good console, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't make the PS3 and XBox360 "look old" in comparison, thus keeping them very competitive, especially with their established library of games.

Every "next gen" console is outsold by the previous gen consoles early on

This is nothing new at all. In fact it's normal