They should add value with bundled games instead.

They have great games like W101, Pikmin 3, WWHD and DKTF (maybe too soon for this one, but eventually) that are not going to sell a lot more anyway. There are also some third party exclusives like Monster Hunter 3 and ZombiU, if they can talk Capcom/Ubisoft into it.

And they really should justify the gamepad, maybe not with their main franchises, but somehow. Pushmo is a great example of user generated content. Isometric RPG with the gamepad being the "GM" is a given too. Maybe Tactics or card related games (Baten Kaitos remaster).

Nah...it's cheap enough. With the bundles they offer, they come with a free game, sometimes 2 and they can be routinely found for $275. Hell, I bought my little sister the Skylanders bundle as a graduation gift in May off of Ebay for $199.99 with free shipping. It was also bundled with Nintendoland.

They tried bundling with different games and it didn't work. I think the idea of the Gamepad is a sort of flop. Maybe they need to focus more of gaming without it.

But I think it needs to be at most $249 with a game bundled, like the original Wii. The PS2 launched at the same price as the PS1, and I think economics is part of the recipe for making it work, especially twice in a row.

outside of dropping the Gamepad, which won't happen, there isn't really a whole lot they can do. Maybe bring back the 8gb with no games for $229.99 or so.

Wii U is likely to get a pricecut sometime next year anyway. $249.99 Mario Maker bundle next May sounds reasonable.

By drastically doing it.

Gamepad-free SKU.

They won't do it though, they're too stubborn.

This.

The reason backward compatibility on Wii U works so well is the same reason bc worked so well on the Wii. GameCube, Wii, and Wii U all use the same system arcitecture which makes bc easy, cost-effective, and flawless. In fact, the only reason GameCube support was eventually dropped from the Wii was because Nintendo got rid of the physical components needed for GameCube controllers to work in order to cut costs. Since all the Wii's accessories are wireless, that leaves nothing for Wii U to cut. So in otherwords, cutting off bc will not only do nothing to lower the cost of Wii U. It'll also lower the system's value.

Removing the Gamepad isn't as option. It's too ingrained with the system. I don't think making the screen size smaller would be a good thing. But perhaps cutting some of that extra plastic off could do something. More importantly, can't Nintendo do a redesign similar to what Sony did with the PS3?

Exactly what I've been saying for a while now.  

Getting more people to actually appreciate the Gamepad at a mass-market price is their best move.

This exactly.  It's a value issue, not cost.  Consumers have cash to spare, but they need a reason to spend it.

Over time, parts and manufacturing gets cheaper.  There's quite a bit of tech squeezed into the Gamepad with the low latency streaming, the NFC, the gyroscopes, all those bells and whistles.  It's an expensive controller, but that will change over time.  This Christmas, we have Mario Kart and Smash out of the gates, so value of the system is much higher than it was last year.  It should sell relatively well, so a price drop isn't going to be strategically sound choice right now anyway.  And by next Christmas, we may see a $250 Wii U with no "cuts" to hardware made whatsoever.  By 2017, they'll be $200 brand spanking new. 

Price isn't an issue.