They will have a unified platform going forward, but I think you're really misreading that, your quote has absolutely nothing to do with literal backwards compatibility.
DS sized cartridges would work on both their handheld and home device so there's that too, obviously you can't shove a disc into a handheld.
But I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this, we'll see who's right potentially as soon as E3 this year, because I actually don't think Nintendo's unveiling of their future platform (which IMO will be a Fusion platform) is that far off.
In a lot of ways too I think Wii U is their last traditional home console ... as in something distinctly different from their handheld. The next product cycle will be a unified hardware approach that orbits around a digital eShop (same games for the handheld and home console, just like iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch all share the same apps).
But they will allow people to buy physical games too, not everyone wants to go digital, and in a unified platform approach, having both the console and handheld share pocket friendly cartridges makes 10000x more sense. So I can buy Mario Galaxy 3 at the store, it's a little DS sized cartridge, now if I have the home version, I can plug that into the console and play on my TV. Now if I want to play on the go, I can take the cartridge out and plug it into the handheld. This doesn't work with a antiquated disc.
Backwards compatibility really in general only has a high value if the previous system was extremely popular too ... which the Wii U clearly isn't. They're not going to bend over backwards to appease such a small fanbase that will end up buying their new system for Mario Galaxy 3 or whatever anyway.
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