yeah that speech was shrouded lol

May or may not be true, he's just trying to deflect immediate speculation.

Though such partnerships would help. Doubtlessly there are many companies out there willing to bet on Nintendo, and they could at least start churning stuff out for their B and C-list franchises.

I guess you can't expect Ninty to reveal who these 'mystery' outside teams are until E3 2012; probably when their next gen console will be revealed.

They sure know how to encourage speculation.......by not encouraging speculation lol As to who these people are, I'd venture a guess at a few things:
One, is their hardware provider. From my basic understanding, Nintendo makes their own proprietary devices. Maybe someone else will assist in that process.

Two, is mostly small (probably one large) Japanese devs. I cannot imagine Nintendo getting much support from American teams, but I can imagine a few European guys/girls coming eventually. But for now, I'd presume they are starting with some Japanese devs/publishers first.
In order to alleviate some software droughts, they need some more 'players'; not by adding more to the Ninty workforce, but by signing lucrative contracts with outside teams. That way, IPs you never hear of and a few new ones are more likely to be worked on, in quicker fashion.