The debacle over the Engadget and Apple’s share price is a startling reminder of the power of some blogs. Michael Arrington has documented what happened over at TechCrunch.

In brief, the technology blog Engadget reported on an internal Apple e-mail which claimed the iPhone was being delayed.

The news reverberated across the internet and within a matter of minutes, $4bn was wiped off Apple’s market worth.

Engadget corrected the story later, explaining what had happened.

Regardless of the debate over whether Engadget should have done more to check its facts, the episode illustrates the remarkable influence of non-traditional news outlets to spread information rapidly to a large audience.

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