They'll have to drop the gamepad I guess ...

It`s still very much possible.
Wii U`s flaws are still here and until they get corrected things won`t really improve. But when they do, Wii U will outsell GC.

GC had what Wii U hasn`t really got so far: games for the Nintendo fanbase and core gamers in general.
Last year`s line-up only had Mario 3D World and a WW port. Wii Party U and Mario and Sonic were/are for a market that so far doesn`t know that Wii U is not a add-on to Wii. o, no wonder those games didn`t manage to do more. I believe that even Mario 3D World could have done more if that market was there (even if in smaller numbers than on Wii).

Honestly, until Nintendo can get a good, steady release schedule, it`s fanbase will opt towards the PS4.

Not saying it will do much better than GC, but they can surely outsell it if they can get their act together.

Just by supporting it one more year :) ( they supported it just 3 year in fact(2002-2005 in europe(but only 2-3 exclusive games the last year if i remember well), i hope Wii U wont have so short life, that would make 2015 the Wii U last year )

That ship has sailed. It finally dawned on me when I saw Nintendo was [optimistically] aiming for a 2.8m second year compared to GC's 5.76m.

the  OS was built around gamepad, is silly to think Nintendo will drop gamepad one day

Nintendo will just find a way to patch it. Either they need to drop the gamepad or the WII U will be in an even bigger shitter. Nintendo is desparate and how they act across the months as of now will be crucial to the momentum that the WII U has left.

This is abysmal no matter how anyone spins it and to make things worse it's already off to a bad start compared to gamecubes second year ...

I agree they have to do something, but does not mean that they have to drop gamepag

What other realistic options are there then ?