I don't agree with that last line (Wii U immeadiatly comes to mind, some killer games coming out for it, and the Wii really does have a lot of hidden gems amongst the shovelware).
But I absolutely agree with the rest. I don't see why someone would pay for a Wii Mini when the regular Wii's are dirt-cheap right now.
Yeah, it's probably just a preference thing...but I'm tired of Mario games...very tired of them, and the only two games that I have ANY interest whatsoever in playing on the WiiU are remakes....which I already own on other systems. There are some games coming out that look great, but there are now going to be a LOT of games coming out over the next few years (PS4, etc) that peak my interest much, much more.
I just don't get the impression that Nintendo gives two shits about the WiiU. If they don't, I'm not going to waste my time.
EDIT: Yes, there are some great gems on the Wii itself, but I give companies like XSEED way more credit for that than Nintendo