One day this past week (Wednesday to be specific), an inaccurate blog posting about a delay in an impending product launch for Apple wiped $4 billion off its market value (3%).

As PC World reported, the popular technology blog, Engadget, posted a story claiming the expected June launch of the iPhone would be delayed until October – and the Leopard October debut would be postponed until January. Engadget’s credited its source as coming from an internal Apple e-mail.

The e-mail tip turned out to be false. But before anyone figured this out Apple’s stock tumbled 3 percent losing US$4 billion in value by the end of the trading day. Apple reacted quickly and issued a statement saying that the iPhone and Leopard are both still on track – the iPhone will ship at the end of June, and Leopard will ship in October. Engadget quickly posted a correction.

Commentary: What PC World did not report, and which makes the case even stranger, is that the email that Engadget got sent, was reportedly indeed an internal Apple email that went out to thousands of Apple employees. What supposedly really confuses Apple is how someone might have spoofed their internal system in order to send out such a mass email.

It could have been a mistake. Perhaps not though. It could have been a concerted effort by a stockholder (or “put” holder more likely) to disseminate false information to move the stock. Penny stock promoters do it all the time. Many hedge fund managers do as well. This case will only bring further intrigue and interest to the practice as volatility and leverage together can produce great gains with the right bet. And a blog, regardless of its popularity, cannot independently verify the facts of a submission. That was traditionally the role of big media – and with the slimmer staffing of a blog, and the pressure to produce “scoops” in the age of Internet before someone else beats you to it, don’t except ‘fact checkers’ to be showing up at blogs anytime soon.