Apple elected to roll out MobileMe, OS X iPhone 2.0, the App Store and the iPhone 3G all on the same day, July 11. That’s a lot of pressure, and the technical glitches in MobileMe and the new iPhone software may have taken away some of the emotional response that propels customers into new purchases, according to C|Net on Tuesday.

Matt Asay, a self-proclaimed Mac fan, admitted that he was eager to get a new iPhone 3G, even though he’d bought an original iPhone just a few months ago. He waited in line like everyone else.

However, the luster has worn off. He’s not getting a big payoff with the 3G network and switching between networks has been difficult. The "not so great" 2.0 software is, well, not so great, and the battery life is poor, the C|Net author reported.

In a better rollout, some problems might get ignored. "Apple relies on an emotional response to its products to sell them, at least initially. For example, once you’ve used OS X you’ll never go back to Windows, but that first leap of faith is just that: a leap of faith that you’re willing to take because the UI is so beautiful. You recognize the power after the purchase," Mr. Asay wrote.

"If Apple continues to screw up the initial, emotional connection to its products through activation issues, buggy software, etc., at some point it’s going to hurt its sales," the author surmised. "I’m a Mac fan, but I’ve decided to pass on the iPhone 3G for the foreseeable future. I imagine I’m not alone."

In hindsight, one also has to wonder what was so secret and sensational about MobileMe that it had to be sprung as a same-day surprise instead of rolled out in a steady-handed beta period. Customers may get excited about new Apple hardware, but they also get fairly picky about the handling of their personal data, and that negative emotion could very well affect the perceived success of the quadruple rollout.