All we know right now is Yu Suzuki said that Shenmue Online is not cancelled. He said that it's "pending" and that he will try hard to release it.
Except that there's a campaign at shenmuecampaign.org and Shenmue dojo. They are sending capsule toys to Sega and saving money for a Shenmue billboard in Tokyo.
Also, they had another campaign, they were collecting emails and sent one huge email to Yu Suzuki with short messages from people (more than 2000 took part from what I remember).
Shenmue fans are great. It's a game with the most awesome fanbase I can think of.