Well you just answer your question, in your question.... (sounds weird, i know.)
the original release needed to be in the summer, like week or 2 after the close of V5, but mojang made 1.7 update and they delay it....
now with all updates about the progress, the map, and how the plugins works, i am sure that they will release it very soon, probably even next week or two (but i don`t know for sure)...