Well reading what he said, it is very vague. I think most people are looking at the word "centralized" and only looking at that piece. Before he uses the word centralized, he deals with flexibility so it is possible "centralized" was being used more to mean "restrictive". The followup after he used "centralized" also deals with flexibility.
I don't think anything he says has confirmed something one way or another. It is possible Nintendo could have it setup to where it is developer choice on how they want to setup the online, but of course that would be the same online setup as the Wii. I think what is really being stated here is that when setting up their online, they aren't going to have it "centralized" under Nintendo ideas, construction, and management, and instead are being flexible by reaching out to third parties to see what they want incorporated into the system. So really it is almost as he is talking about the online setup as a "work in progress", which probably isn't entirely true but obviously can only state so much.
Personally, the online setup isn't a huge factor for me with Wii U as it is doubtful that all my online gaming is going to magically disappear away from Xbox Live haha. But I would like to see a nice setup so when I play Ninty online games, they will be easily accessible and fun.
