There's a reason why the Basic model got shelved. It still works for my point though, the Wii U is more expensive than the Wii and also the most expensive Nintendo console released to date. I wouldn't really call that trying to keep prices down.

If we consider inflation, a dollar in 2006 is equivalent to $1.15 in 2012. That means a Wii in 2012 would cost about $287.5. So the difference between the basic model and the Wii is about $12. For the casual, low-cost gamer, the difference in features between the basic model and the deluxe would not have mattered. 

edit: Also the gamecube, which released for $200 in 2001 would be about $260 in 2012. The Snes which released for $200 in 1991 would be $337 in 2012, N64 would be $292 in 2012, and the NES released in 1985 in North America would be a WHOPPING $430 in 2012. 

People would call if Wii 2 if it had a similar controller. It doesn't, thus people don't call it Wii 2. I agree with the reasoning in the first post but that doesn't seem to be how people generally perceive the console. Nintendo did follow the same strategy but that doesn't mean the console is somehow an evolved version of their previous console. It doesn't work like that when your strategy is to be different from everything there was before.

Only someone who feels shitted on can react that way.

I trust your experience on this matter.

Says the guy who is upset because I wasn't talking nice about his favourite corporation, awww did I heart your feelings

I owned a Wii U from Christmas 2012 to Thanksgiving 2013. At that point, I sold it.
It wasn't because it was a Wii 2.0. In fact, I wouldn't even call it that. Sure, it used the same AV cable and Wiimotes, but I do think that the GamePad and HD graphics was unique enough to be something different.
It was because it was boring.

The Wii U is a nostalgia monster. It tries so hard to embody everything else that's Nintendo, that it has no true identity of its own. Nintendoland is a nod to every other major franchise Nintendo has, NSMBU is practically a copy-paste of NSMBW, the games that came out after were a bunch of sequels and additions, and the only new game specific for it was one of the most difficult to control (Wonderful 101). The biggest new releases for 2014 are more sequels (SSBU, MK8, Bayonetta 2) and a robot game no one knows anything about (X).
The VC stuff also didn't help either. It doesn't help to play old games on new graphics at $5 a pop.

And NES Remix doesn't help either.

Nor do the Wii Sports Club bits from Wii Sports being sold for $10 each game.

The issue is that, while we're seeing innovation in the controller, it's being muddied up by seeing all the old stuff repeated again.
GIVE US SOMETHING NEW!

I would honestly tell people not to buy this console. Doesn't mean I'd tell them to get something different.
Just not the Wii U.

I do think Nintendo are catering more for the hardcore this time, the quality control seems much better and there is very little shovelware on the system. If anything i suppose you could say the Wii U is a mish mash, part Wii, part Gamecube but no real identity of its own as of yet. In time Nintendo will carve out their own niche for Wii U, they need to push the gamepad more.