As a disproportionate amount of my time and energy this weekend has gone to procuring an iPhone 3G (and no, I was not one of those crazed fans who stood in line for one for any length of time), I have to admit that I’m extremely disappointed with the way Apple has handled the distribution process.

Seth Godin points out that artificially imposed scarcity can damage customer loyalty (thanks for my friend Jardel in Brazil for the link), and outlines a number of ways that Apple could’ve prevented those hours-long lines that almost certainly pissed more customers off than they pleased.  (I myself am included among those who are upset; if you’ve been looking at my Twitter feed over the last couple of days, you probably noticed that I went to the open-24-hours-365-days-a-year 5th Avenue Apple Store at 1am last night only to be told that “the line forms at 2am” for iPhones, though they wouldn’t actually be available until 7am.  What?!)

I tend to agree with just about all of his assessments, especially the idea of allowing advance orders. Bookstores do this with eagerly anticipated books like Harry Potter ; even the company that I work for full-time occasionally offers pre-orders on products, and it almost always gives you a better handle on how many you’ll need to order/have manufactured to prevent backorders.

There was really no reason that Apple/AT&T couldn’t have planned for the release better.  Amping up an already-eagerly anticipated product like this one creates frenzy, injuries and frustration rather than enthusiasm and goodwill.