At a recent speaking engagement, Apple senior vice president of industrial design Jonathan Ive revealed that Apple thought about ceasing work on the iPhone at multiple points during its development, the Independent reports. “There were multiple times where we nearly shelved the phone because we thought there were fundamental problems that we can’t solve,” Ive said, explaining that one such problem involved an early prototype “where I put the phone to my ear and my ear dials the number” accidentally. Ive went on to explain that Apple frequently kills internal projects that are “good” but not necessarily up to the company’s exacting standards.
“We have been, on a number of occasions, preparing for mass production and in a room and realized we are talking a little too loud about the virtues of something. That to me is always the danger, if I’m trying to talk a little too loud about something and realizing I’m trying to convince myself that something’s good,” he said. “You have that horrible, horrible feeling deep down in your tummy and you know that it’s OK but it’s not great. And I think some of the bravest things we’ve ever done are really at that point when you say, ‘that’s good and it’s competent, but it not’s great’.”
