It matter when comparing with PS3, that's a last gen example. Wii U is of course a machine with way better multitasking. The paywall on PS+ to play online and so on sucks of course, but last gen proved that people would rather pay than use an inferior solution and that's what Nintendo Network is right now.

Wrong, auto-updates for PS4 have always been free:

http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/18/ps4-auto-update-social-features-free-to-all-users/

And since last October, they are also free for PS3:

http://www.lazygamer.net/ps3/ps3-automatic-updates-available-to-everyone-now/

Then tell me what makes it inferior since you seem to have so much insight on this. I'll wait for an easily refutable list. I really don't understand why people bitch that it's free. Nintendo did was Sony and MS couldn't do, make a social network for games. Sony borrows facebook for this

See, PS4 i didn't know despite my younger brother owning one from launch. PS3 is news to me. 

No cross game voice chat, no game invites out of parties, no trophies/achievement support (despite being used offline, this feature includes online profiles, gamer points and trophy comparison), content locked to only one Wii U (patch promissed), only one 3DS supported per person on NN, no live streaming support (depends on hardware too, but the network shows your friends' streamings), maximum of 100 friends (as PS3 was since 2007. PSN now supports 2000 friends). As an extra, I could add the free games from both PSN and Live and the cloud save storage if you are paying. PSN also supports cross-play between Vita and PS3 or PS4.

But on the PS4 XB1, and 360, you pretty much pay for all that.

-Cross Game chat is pointless, i've even refuted this for PS3. Stupid feature and only meant for people who love to party chat. 

-why does this matter outside of a game

-Trophies/achieves are NOT needed. However Stickers that post to miiverse per game is nicer than trophies by a mile since they are actually useful. 

-Don't know why you listed that when you said patch promised

- Why would you want more than one NNID on a 3DS? 

- It's not impossible on the Wii U hardware, but Reggie recently gave a reason why it's not available. The reason is that it's not fun. Unless you are talking about it showing what your friends are playing, and in that case it does show that. 

- Who needs 2000, or even 1000 friends on PSN? I turn off notifications for the 40 odd so I have on my PS3. Too distracting. 

-  PS+ isn't exactly a reason, it's an extra optional feature. You pay extra for that. I could argue that my black premium Wii U nets me 5 dollars ever 50 dollars in purchases on the eShop on a free network. 

I gave you technical reasons. It doesn't matter if you use them or not, a lot of people do and it was a common source of frustration. You are giving only your personal opinion about each feature. I listed things with patches promissed because the patch isn't out or have a date. If I go to a store, buy a Wii U and it breaks and gets replaced on warranty, I'm screwed. About 3DS and NNID you can't have more than one 3DS activated per NNID. I'm not talking about having more than one account per 3DS, even because the other handheld avaiable, Vita, doesn't have it (and I would want a patch for that). Invites outside of games? It's not unusual to be playing and get an invite to play a game with a friend, so sometimes I just want to follow. Cross game chatting is great because I can call everyone for a party and ask who wants to play and what they want to play. I'm sick of combining TLOU online matches (specially private matches with clans) using text messages on PS3. I'm usually playing an online match and I have to hide on some spot in the map to try sending a message without giving the enemy a free kill. Normally I will use the Vita or an Android device with PSN app, but still is a pain and I have to stop playing.

Another thing that shows how you are taking your personal preferences as a global fact is the numbers of friends. You have 40? Ok. I have 140 on PSN. When I started playing TLOU online I added several local players and I play regularly with all of them. When I get online with my headset, there will always be someone online to play (if you want to play TLOU online for real, you have to face real clans where the real players are). The big problem is that PSN raised the limit to 2000 and patched all consoles. While PS4 and Vita shows up to 2000 friends, the PS3 can't. It shows only 100, priorizing the online friends. But it doesn't works correctly and several times it doesn't shows players that are online and it sucks big time.

The bolded part is available on PS3 and/or Vita, both with free online. The streaming on PS4 doesn't require a PS Plus subscription. My point is that these are things that people want and are used to have on older platforms. Of course, I would prefer if PS4 had free online. The big problem is that people bought the 360 and showed pretty clearly that they didn't cared about it. Other companies followed the line and now we are pretty much screwed. Of course, I'm a PS Plus subscriber and enjoy it because of the freebies, but I would rather do it because I want to than as a basic requirement to play online, specially because I have all the features on PS3 and PS Vita that I want without paying so it's pretty clear that they just saw that people would pay to play online and decided to charge for it.

Best bet is not to return it to the store but to send it to Nintendo through their tech support.  If it is still under warranty then they will send you another system.  You then probably have to call them again and get your account set up on the new Wii U (I am not 100% sure on everything because my system hasn't broke).  I have over $500 in Wii VC/Wiiware and Wii U indie/VC downlaods on my system (and I have over $300 in indie and VC games on my 3DS).  I heard in past that they will set up your account on new system (allow you to redownload all games) if you go through Nintendo support.  They know exactly what I purchased through my Club Nintendo account.  They just don't have the most consumer friendly option of getting your games back.

Should the process be easier than having to call tech support to setup your account on a new system after a lost or defective system?  Yes

I believe they are working on it considering that is one of the biggest complaints of their download policy.