I think Nintendo are trying to manage existing inventory so it lasts until the NX launch or sometimes before. I don't think they are interested in paying for new chip runs or setting up the foxconn wii u assembly lines again. They massively overproduced the console at the beginning and I think they are still using that inventory. It was estimated something like 12-14 million wii u's were produced and we haven't got to that figure yet in wii u sales I think. The white wii u production was stopped years ago but you still see some at retail.

Maybe Japan will be the first market to run dry. I don't think Nintendo wants to heavily discount the console either so again better to keep prices high by tricklefeeding to retail.

Normal procedure for failed consoles is massive discounting but you can see Nintendo aren't doing that. Hats off to Nintendo for cleverly dealing with limited demand.

To be honest Nintendo should just take 2000 extra units/week from their North America/Europe supply pool and just give it to Japan. No one gives a shit about the Wii U in the West and the system has seen zero uptick in sales even with Splatoon and Mario Kart and Mario Maker and Smash Bros. and Amiibo and all that so I doubt they would be missed here. 

Strong sales for Christmas, so they weren't able to restock it soon enough, especially considering that it doesn't sell well overall, so might reproduce Wii Us just at certain times.
Plus, there's the Pokken bundle coming soon and I guess Nintendo wants people to buy that.

Bye Wii U, Hello NX!

They're probably importing unsold US/EU inventory. Just needs a firmware change and new packaging and good to go without the costs of manufacturing new hardware.

It's not confirmed if it is a handheld or a home console, there's no such thing as a hybrid console.

It still looks too early for the NX being the reason of the shortage...

They should announce the new console, then stop selling the old one, no? Or at least be really close to the announcement. If they announce the NX at E3 for the holidays (and I'm not sure they will do it earlier at all), what does that mean? No Nintendo home console sold in Japan for 11 months in 2016? That seems weird....

I know they have to shift the production, but come on, every other console seller can produce 2 types of consoles or more at the same time, and they can't? 

Unless they were going to do a surprise release of NX just post E3, this is too soon for NX to be the reason. And if developer rumors are to be believed NX is probably not ready, from a software perspective at least.

Because there is not much of a reason for a product with fairly low demand being out of stock.  This indicates that Nintendo doesn't see much of a future in the Wii U, and are accordingly lowering production.  Lowering production is not a sign of a console with a bright future.

Just because no such thing exists now, doesn't mean one can't exist. I can imagine a possibility of NX being a Handheld device that comes with a caddy that connects to a TV/monitor that is basically a HDD and power source. If they can put Wii U level specs into a handheld then it will be able to deliver very satisfying performance on a TV so basicilly can be a hybrid. 

The only limitation for a hybrid is how much power you can put into a device that is small enough to be an attractive handheld console.