The article doesn't really say the product is good, just that a lot of people said it was good... which isn't quite the same thing. Also from the article:

"The demo and the app, some employees came to realize, were not the same thing. When it came to the actual app’s progress, multiple sources say Duplan wasn’t always straight with his employees."

Sounds like it could be a real-life case of "Important Corollary Two" from here:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000356.html