Very true. That's a pretty strong statement for Techcrunch; they could go from a one-man blog to a blog/event and now hardware "empire" in just 4-5 years. Even if the tablet is crap, that's quite an accomplishment.
1. Build a blog, get large readership, convince them you're *awesome*!
2. Release reasonable product
3. Sell to blog readershipI was thinking about the same thing when reading the comments on TechCrunch: there is a big following that would buy it in big part because it's from TechCrunch. Or let's say that, in all these cases, the blogs are used as a great advertising platform.
You can't blame them, building a following is hard work too.
Through is blog/twitter he's managed to associate himself with all things "geek" and found an audience who will buy his work.