I understand that journalists want to be cynical and to claim “objectivity.” But when 11 bloggers at ZDNET write over 50+ negative blog posts in a little over a week for a product NOT even out yet? What is that? Proof they are smarter than us? … and more cynical? Proof they are mad at Apple because they haven’t gotten a test unit?

Sure, I’m as guilty of making presumptions about the iPhone but I don’t think I’m going on a limb to say it’s going to sell well on Day 1 and that if Apple/Steve Jobs demos a product, it will pretty much work like that, it’s not some behind-the-scenes CGI at work. I too have reservations about a touchscreen but the tiny chiclet keyboard we have had so far on other phones is obviously not a real resolution either so why not a touchscreen? Isn’t it presumptuous to declare that since every touchscreen so far is not so good, Apple’s won’t be either? How do we progress anywhere with that attitude? As a John Cleese’s caveman character was quoted, “This round thing, you call it a wheel, who would want this?”

So, as we covered already – opinion is all over the board and sometimes from the same person who forgot they love it on Monday and by Wednesday is complaining about no spinning beachball or something equally pointless … but ZDNET is really spewing …

ZDNET has over 11 blogs that touch upon Apple so of course, the writers are attempting to increase page view counts to get a bigger bonus and at the end of the year, their bosses won’t notice how they got there but out of some 60+ posts in the last week or so, there were about 2 that were positive and 2 that was neutral … really, Apple & the iPhone is such a horrible product that it warrants nearly 50+ negative blog posts and that’s just the last 10 DAYS or so?!

How much hate can you direct at something not even out yet … would there be this much hate for a carbon-mercury spewing autobot baby seal killing machine?

Even when they post news or just a press release, they have to add a snarky comment while most other companies in another blog post just simply get their press release info mostly re-posted with a few neutral or positive comments – are they trying to show they are immune to the “reality distortion field” or the so-called hype?

And who exactly is creating this hype? Is one keynote, one official press conference, 5 ads and now 3 press releases really “hype?” There’s more hype over M&M’s changing color … is it not “hype” when ZDNET chooses to write 60+ articles by 10 different people?

And the guy who write the Apple blog doesn’t seem to like Apple or their products very much, however the Blackberry guy gushes about Blackberries … nothing wrong there? Of course, the real oddity is they have a guy who is an actual Microsoft employee blogging for them – how objective can he be? Sure, you can always criticize “future” specs on a product but what about looking at the iPhone and thinking, “10 million iPhones = An ideal platform for malware.” That takes quite a stretch – especially since a few days earlier, the same guy claims there’s no way he could see how Apple could sell 10 million iPhones but of course, if they did, 10 million will automatically be infected … even if you agree 100% with these guys, it must be pretty depressing to hang around with people who see the glass as not just half full but the water is full of chemicals and the glass must be dirty.

The 11 blogs …

APPLE CORE
“Apple beefs up iPhone battery specs” (amazing – a whole ZDNET blog news post without a snarky comments)
“10 things wrong with touchscreens”
“6 reasons not to switch to Safari on a PC”
“Only AT&T corporate stores to carry iPhone”
“Apple canceling Personal Shopping appointments for 29 June”
““Sleep Camp” nixed, you still have to reboot”
“Apple lulls developers to sleep at hardware-less WWDC”
“Beta Nazi: No Leopard for you”
“iPhone acquisition strategies (Update 2)”
“iTunes Plus tracks contain user info”
“Fortune: Apple TV a “dud”
“iPod that you can drive over” (drives over his Shuffle – still works – positive)

HARDWARE 2.0
“Apple’s reality distortion field in action – iPhone feature comparison”
“iPhone’s improved battery life” (must resist snarky comment, nope can’t do it – QUOTE – is the battery user-replaceable? Oh, and how usable is the virtual keyboard?)
“Firefox is on Steve Jobs’ hit list!”
“Safari for Windows – Do we really need another browser?”
“10 million iPhones = An ideal platform for malware”
“Users won’t care about iPhone keyboard usability”
“Malware could turn innocent iTunes Plus users into file-sharers”
“Each AppleTV costs $237 to make”
“iTunes Plus – Getting more than you bargained for!”
“iPhone – Out June 29th”
QUOTE – ” …still find it hard to see how Apple is going to shift 10 million iPhones in 2008″
“Scoble: AppleTV “left the door open to its competitors””

IP Telephony, VOIP (real imaginative blog title there)/BLACKBERRY BEAT (same guy write both blogs)
“Eight hours of iPhone battery life? Ain’t gonna happen too often” (aka: trust me, I know it all and I’m never wrong because in my dreams where I’m holding an iphone, it goes dead after 7 hours!)
“Safari for Windows main problem? Mac cultists”
“Report: iPhone cool stuff access will require two-year data plan”
“Plan to buy an iPhone June 29? “Undoubtedly there will be shortages”
“Poll: do you care that iPhone is missing a physical keyboard?”
“This AT&T store is taking an iPhone waiting list: “If you’re here you’ll get it”
“Windows Users: drop everything and install Safari for Windows now” (sarcasm)
“iPhone ad secret Apple probably doesn’t want you to know”
“Apple TV chips cost breakdown here”
“As iPhone is released, AT&T BlackBerry support’s probably gonna suck”
“BlackBerry vs. iPhone: Google iPhone search brings up BB Curve Sponsored Link”
“What would it take for you to switch from BlackBerry to iPhone?”

JON CARROLL – DEVELOPER (A MS employee)
“Thoughts on HTC’s iPhone competitor” (somewhat positive)
QUOTE – “Clearly, I favor Microsoft products, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. I was a fan of the company’s technology long before I was employed by them in May of 2005.”
“Thoughts on Apple TV” (surprise, doesn’t like it – imagine that from a MS employee).
“Countering Apple’s ad campaign” (his ad suggestion for MS – I think there’s a reason this guy works for MS and not Apple or Nike).

MOBILE GADGETEER
“GotVoice brings some iPhone functionality to your current mobile phone”
“The iPhone will cost me at least US$2245, how about you?”
“HTC beats Apple to the touch”
“Is the Apple iPhone really that fast?”
“Steve Ballmer:Windows Mobile 60%+ vs Apple iPhone at 3%” (actual comments neutral)

WEB 2.0 EXPLORER
“No iPhone for me, thanks to AT&T!”
“Finally! An Apple web strategy”
“Safari on Windows? The real reason behind the new release”
“Dear Steve Jobs (I want subscription music)”
“Dot Mac Dead?”

BERLIN’S TESTBED (Under the Hood of Technology)
“Author of Gas.App mines his Web logs for iPhone specs (and finds them)”
“Will Apple’s boost to iPhone’s battery life be enough?”
“With respect to iPhone, Microsoft rolls over and plays dead”
QUOTE – “But the many discouraging aspects of the iPhone is not really what this blog post is about, or is it?”

ALL ABOUT MICROSOFT (Unblinking Eye on MS – um, unblinking eye, is that the LOTR’s thing?)
“And in case you haven’t seen it, there’s the Fake Steve Ballmer blog.”
“Leopard looks like … Vista”
Yea, hard to top this one, she tries a few days later to claim that yes, she wrote ‘Leopard Looks Like Vista,’ but we misquoted her … after all, you could interpret those 4 words many different ways … maybe if you read it Yoda-style, it might sound different?

ZERO DAY (Virus/Trojan)
Okay, this guy is definitely a black cloud guys since he writes about exploits, viruses and spyware – hard to find any positive articles on his blog to begin with on any topic.

BETWEEN THE LINES (General Tech Blog?)
“Apple, Jobs and the UPOD iPhone strategy”
Most of article about battery life and new screen but what’s a ZDNET without a negative presumption? QUOTE – “At least until you drop it and have to buy a new one.”
“Poll: Fake Steve Jobs matters more than the real thing”
“Blurry, but fast: Safari’s fonts”
“Safari for Windows: Embracing and extending” (actual neutral in tone)
“Update: ZFS will be in Leopard–sort of” (does anyone really, really care?)
“Safari development for the iPhone” (almost positive)
“Smart move: iPhone opens up to Web developers” (positive)

ED BOTT”S MICROSOFT REPORT
“Is Jobs planning a hostile takeover of the Windows desktop?”
QUOTE – “So, my prediction: Come October, when Leopard ships, Apple will announce that anyone buying a new Mac can order an Apple-customized version of Windows Vista pre-installed on the same system.”

By the way CNET/ZDNET, it’s 2007 – maybe that’s why you hate the iPhone 1.0, you’re in 2006 and you hate having to wait until 2007 to use this technology … the other reason could be even you hate technology so much YOU don’t even bother to read to the bottom of your own pages.