It definitely was not.

No, it was the evolution of this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_GameCube_%E2%80%93_Game_Boy_Advance_link_cable?wprov=sfla1

The Wii U basically tried to capitalize on the success of both the Wii and DS.

Obviously, that fell flat on its face.

the Wii U was what the Wii should have been.

Nintendo clearly had no clue what made the DS and Wii so good. They had the Wii MotionPlus, they should have made that standard so proper motion controls were in all games, but they went with the gamepad instead.

More like a DS XXXL.

I think the idea behind the Wii-U was a full-circle for Nintendo.

1) DS came out with touchscreen controls and made gaming open to non-gamers
2) Touchscreen smartphones (iPhone, Android) got touch-only games like Angry Birds and Temple Run
3) Modern Tablet computers evolved from Smartphones
4) Wii-U tethered a tablet to a low end game system

Honestly I think Nintendo stuck the word "Wii" onto the title of the system simply to cash in on its best selling home console ever. It didn't work.

I agree with this notion more than anything else, and I believe its one of the reasons the Wii U failed.

It was a mess. Not an evolution from Wii nor DS, it was just another "new way to play" Nintendo thing that flopped hard (DS and Wii for example were this too and they were a succes).

So let's see NX's new way to play how it does.

I think some of the WiiU's inspirations came from the tablet boom, but if Nintendo really had wanted to enter that market, they would have done a tablet-like handheld. Tablets are basically portable computers more convenient than a laptop, after all. A big tablet with the ability to split-screen so it keeps the DS functionality while allowing a single screen for the games that wanted it. But they put it on the home console, effectively killing the portable aspect of it.