I realize that touchscreens are expensive, but expensive enough to account for a significant amount of production costs? I don't think so. The Kindle Fire's 7in. multitouch IPS Gorilla glass display was only $87 back in 2011. The Wii U's is a standard plastic resistive LCD, and has a lower resolution besides. I'd be surprised if the entire controller costs more than $60 to produce, all in all. 

I do agree that Nintendo did opt for some highly customized parts, but who knows exactly how much extra they had to pay for those?

Seems legit.

Pretty sure the early reports of the Wii U gamepad were that it was costing Nintendo nearly $100 at the start. They've been able to whittle that cost down, but there's a reason they're not for sale yet. Too expensive to put on the market right now as they'd be 3 figures unquestionably.

I hear that a PS3/360 controller cost about $10 to make but they sell for $50. I could easily see the Wii U Gamepad, based on its size and features costing upwards of 3x that of a normal controller. So $30+ eaisly. Maybe even $50. That alone could be what keeps Nintendo from doing a price cut.

@bold
The more complex something is, the lower the yields, and the more it costs. The more you customize something, the more complex it becomes and in the end the more it costs you.

 I think that without the Wii U gamepad, the Wii U could be sold for a small profit. I hope Nintendo is considering introducing a "core" SKU with the Pro controller in the future. Not every game will make use of the Gamepad and in those that do use it, sometimes it is not necessary and tacked-on. Give people a choice on whether they want it or not.

ROLF at people thinking PS4 won't blow the WiiU outta the water. The WiiU is only a bit better than the 360s Xenos in the graphics department, lacks significantly in the cpu department with a slower(but more) memory.

I could see them releasing a tabletless SKU late in the console's life cycle, kinda like the Wii mini, but doing so now would risk rendering the Wii U Gamepad an entirely optional accessory, thereby fragmenting the userbase and giving 3rd parties one more reason not to make use of it at all. Besides Mario, the controller is the console's main seling point currently. Without it, the Wii U doesn't stand up very favorably to any other console on the market today,

For real?

I believe the US RRP is typically less than the Japanese price to consumers. So if the JY price converts to $430 US then the US RRP will almost certainly be $399 esp if the cost of production is just north of $400. But sony would be better off selling at break even, and dropping the price as soon as cost of production drops. $450 RRP at launch is OK if it comes down before holiday 2014.

Realism =/= technically good graphics.

Also, since the Wii U is more powerful, it's only a matter of time. If Nintendo won't do it, a third party will.

Yes, it's got a lot of nifty tech built into it. Obviously it's not that expensive anymore, but there's a reason why you can't just buy one by itself.