Samsung has released 2.2 to Verizon. It's up to Verizon to make any additional changes, etc, then release it to us. I guess they decided that since Gingerbread has been released, they might as well wait and release that since there have been some issues with 2.2 and the Galaxy S.
I'm not sure that this is true; let me add my experience. A few years ago my company wanted Verizon to build a custom FW release for a phone we were buying mass quantities of. (We wanted to be able to disable the camera on demand) The relationship Verizon had with manufacturers at the time was to provide them with requirements, and the manufacturer would be responsible for design/development. Verizon had no involvement whatsoever with the actual coding of firmware. They did, however, have the responsibility of testing the releases and deciding whether they were up to par before greenlighting them for release.
Understand also that the phone is actually a Verizon product -- manufactured by Samsung. Any changes to firmware must be initiated at the Verizon level, since they are responsible for supporting it. Even if Samsung had a 2.2, 2.3, etc. build ready for the Fascinate, we would never see it unless Verizon asks them for it and then approves it for release.
Some of this may have changed in the last couple years, but I'm pretty sure most of this is still true. Its an odd product model compared to most things we buy, but when you break it down it does make sense.
