I don't think it's that bad of an idea for MS to release their next console by 2013 gives them plenty of time to study the console(wish probably be shown at both gamescom and TGS) will have a little window opportunity to see the sales/sales trend of the Wii U to make their final judgement on what they need to compete with the console.
I don't think MS or Sony need to rush to compete with nintendo's next console though, from my little anecdotal evidence, people who know of the Wii U just see it as a console to compete with the current HD consoles, Some people think it was another upgrade of the wii(possibly to suffer from the same fate as the 3DS?) Sony and MS should wait and see what 3rd party support(either exclusive wise or exclusive content wise) the Wii U is getting to decide when they should jump in(I don't think the Wii U will survive on 1st party titles and shovelware this time around)
I hope the Wii U is successful though, would make for better competition.
