I think the Wii U has 2 problems.

The first one is that it is seen as too expensive for a console which will not be able to play the next gen PS4 and Xbone multiplats.

The second one is that it is not a Wii, it is called Wii 2 but its name is a lie, it does not come bundled with a wii mote and a new Wii sports 2.

Nintendo seems to have given up on motion controls which is what made the Wii so popular. The  gamepad competes with cell phones and their touch screens, but motion controls dont compete with cell phones and tablets. Many of those "casuals" could return.

The question I want to ask is, What would Ninendo do if in 2 or 3  years they are able to sell the Wii U for USD200 or less without losing money, and the console begins to sell very well, selling more than in its previous years combined because of how cheap it it would be and because in 2 or 3 years it will have a quite nice library of games.

Would Nintendo be forced to supports the Wii U for more than 5 or 6 years if most of the Wii U customers happen to buy from its third year on? Or would they tell those customers, enjoy it for a couple of years because a new Nintendo console is coming?

Considering many of the key system sellers/hardcore games are coming out now, I would be really surprised if the wiiU sells better late on its life than it is selling this year... But if it does, then Nintendo would probably need to kill it to sell its next gen console or else their next console will end up like the wiiU

Money isn't the issue when you know what you want and know what you don't want (within the affordability range obviously)... The people that want a wiiU this year and want the key Nintendo games will buy them this year... Unless they are only waiting for Zelda U, most of its sales will probably be this year and next year, for better or for worse

well I don't expect it to sell well late in its life because retailers won't give it that long a chance. It really needs to start selling well soon once the big games come out. Or Nintendo will have to be paying a shitload extra to keep it in stores.

To be honest if the WiiU isn't a "success" by this time next year, it probably never will be. They have quite a few of their heavy hitters coming out this year, unlike the PS4/X1 which will have relatively few by comparison. If that along with being the cheaper console is still not enough to win them some ground then they are pretty stuffed :P

I think Nintendo having already increased advertising, development, and business restructure budgets by a very large amount says we have no idea what they're up to, lol

Um I think they'd have an office party or two ;)

I think they'd nurture the new core userbase. Haha who am I kidding....

I ask this because I doubt the Wii U will be able to sell fine until it no longer is considerably more expensive than a handheld.
That may be too late, my question was rather optimistic.

I bought a Wii U from February 2012 this week. A man who went on vacations to the USA in early 2012 bought a few to resell here (Argentina), because he thought it was going to be a big success like the Wii. He had 2 left this week, including the one I bought.
The update took over 12 hours.

The Wii U will be doing ok by the end of this year. I don't think its going to sell 18 million or anything crazy high but the lineup alone pretty much ensures it will do no less then 7 million in 2014. DK has always been a consistant 5+ million seller, and it's preorders are only 20k short of SM3DW, which is really good considering Nintendo games ussually get 40 - 50 percent of their total pre-orders in the 2 weeks before release. Mario Kart sold worst on Gamecube at 7 million, but the franchises popularity has grown alot since Double Dash came out 11 years ago (can't believe its been that long, I feel old). The last Super Smash bros released 6+ years ago (same gap as Melee to Brawl) and people are very hungry for it. Making people wait a long time worked out well for GTA V and Street Fighter IV, and I suspect Smash Bros 4 will be a massive seller. Nintendo need's to do alot of marketing and treat 2014 like their true launch 1.5 years after the actual launch.

They'd rehire Iwata?