What if it doesn't meet Nintendo's own expectations by Q2 2013?

Source thread is useless since at the end of 2011 nobody knew when the Wii U would launch and many people expected the Wii U to be out of the gates by November in ALL REGIONS.

Somebody gets it!  This thread should be about how clueless people are at predicting hardware sales.  No offense but anyone expecting a number higher than 3.5M is simply delusional.  If I make a complete nonsensical prediction like the Wii U will sell 2M in Jan 2013 should we should call it a flop or major flop if it sells 800k?

If Wii U doesn't SHIP 4.5M by April fools day, start the flop thread.  At the same time the launch only would be a flop not the system that early...cough..3DS...cough...PS3.

It's outsold both the PS3 and 360 during their launches and sold around 80% of the Wii sales during its launch. Not a flop by any stretch of the imagination.

Strange that people would think that considering Nintendo's strategy with the Wii. In fact, the Wii U released earlier in every region except Japan. So if people predicted with consideration that Nintendo would use a similar strategy as the Wii, the Wii U would actually have a small advantage.

It's way premature to call it a flop. As far as we know, it's selling quite well. Not nearly as well as the original Wii, but I doubt any console will sell like that again.

Yeah pretty much.  This is a pointless thread that I'm sure will generate attention

PS3 was 600 dollars at launch, Xbox 360 (400$) and Wii were both supply constrainted at launch. The Wii U is 350 dollars and abundent in supply. 

Edit: PS3 also didn't release in Europe till March 2007 (4 months after the NA launch).

Well, I know it is a joke-thread, but the question is pretty good: How to define a flop? Sales in comparison with expectations? Sales in comparison with competition?Sales must be lower than X? Shrinking sales compared to predecessor? It's pretty hard. I think the expectations are not totally from the table, but it should be combined with other criteria. Also some expectations (manufacturer) are more important than others (forum-posters).

Far too early to call it a flop.