Even with our limited view from here in the states I tend to believe this appraisal. Something about the numbers involved just doesn't add up. There seem to be too few people involved to really be a grassroots uprising. This is too staged (from the left/islamist side) to be genuine. But it is so far having effect.
From what I can gather from quick looks at the article and comments at other sites, an original protest of c. 5000 was tweeted up to be 150,000. That drew a crowd a few days later of a million and the rest is history. The original 5000 protester non-event disappeared down the memory hole in the process.
From another POV, I looked at a site that studies revolutionary cylcles. They concluded that unlike the Tunisian revolution which started with famished people outside the capital and swept towards the capital (the historical model), the Egyption protests started in Cairo and showed organizational levels in the early that they felt were too high for a spontaneous event.
In that regard, I agree with your assessment.