so then its not the same thing. at all

The "later" aspect was dealing with when games become available that can use more than 1 GamePad.  Since that's not yet come about, they've had no need to offer them at retail.

how did the OP only now know about this more than a year later. oh well.

IMHO reading the comments show the flaws of the system. I would say that it should have had multple gamepad support from the outset...i still believe that, but i know what would be expensive as hell

Get one directly from Ninty, kind of a pain in the ass for a game console in this day and age, especially when its so integral.

sell it in stores, 100+ would be alot to drop on a controller.

the system itslef doesnt support more than one pad.

The gamepad is not sold as a stand alone product because if it was, people would purchase the console and buy EXTRA gamepads for multi player gaming even though no games support it. There would be a large amount of backlash (because sheep don't research before they buy) and parents would buy for their kids, find out the gamepads don't work and end up returning it.

Most likely what will happen is Nintendo will produce the first couple of games that use a second gamepad and try advertising together or even have a pack in with the pad and the game to avoid confusion. that's the only logical way I see it happening.

Other than that, the op doesn't make sense because it doesn't make sense to sell standalone gamepads for the one person on vgchartz who just "wants" to have it, (Nintendo would end up losing money)

Its similar so its a comparison thats not 100% the same. Which is different from not the same at all. 

Nintendo HAS dual-GamePad games IN development.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/5/4067494/nfc-nintendo-wii-u-miyamoto

http://nintendoeverything.com/hackers-take-apart-a-wii-u-gamepad-revealing-upgradable-firmware-dual-gamepad-support-built-in-more/

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/13/nintendo-wii-u-dual-gamepad-support-after-launch/

http://www.vg247.com/2012/09/15/wii-u-games-using-dual-gamepads-will-launch-sometime-next-year-says-nintendo/

http://kotaku.com/5915867/nintendos-wii-u-will-support-two-gamepads

pretty sure Kinect 2.0 isnt as intergral to xbone as wiipad is to Wii U, but i could be wrong about that. If im not i wouldnt be surprised if they make a cheaper SKU sans Kinect before Ninty even starts to make gamepad available in stores

Maybe its cause they didn't want customers to go and buy the gamepad only and try to sync it to the wii...

One of the many reasons that the Wii U is a confusing console to the general consumer. It's too bad.

I am not sayi'g that i was saying that the situations were similar despite that. Their both major devices for their respectve platforms and you can't buy them in stores. Not saying their exactly the same.