There's some element of truth there; we can always say the silver lining to not selling more is that they didn't lose more on the hardware. Yet I doubt that dooming their console with lack of marketing and support was the business plan.
The plan more likely would have been to sell 9 million like they said last year, taking a loss in order to boost the future of the platform.
Cost reduction isn't just a matter of waiting, it also needs a strong expectation of future sales. Like moving the SoC from 45nm to 32nm may not be cost effective at ~3.5 million units a year. As many as 10 million units may be needed to break even. Wii U may possibly not sell another 10 million lifetime, making economic cost reduction of the SoC impossible. Some parts like memory & LCD screen which are not bespoke components could fall in price automatically, assuming they are not obsolete.
