The iPhone nearly wasn’t made

The iPhone is part of our everyday vocabulary these days, and Apple is all set to release the iPhone 5 (as it’s likely to be called) this autumn.

But it appears, at least according to Sir Jonathan Ive (via the Independent), Apple came close to shelving the iPhone before it was launched.

Apparently, Ive, the Apple design-meister, reckons that Steve Jobs was close to binning the project because he felt the idea was good, but perhaps not great enough to hit the shelves.

Speaking at the British Business Embassy event, Ive said: “There were multiple times where we nearly shelved the phone because we thought there were fundamental problems that we can’t solve.”

Ive said that Apple has released so few products, because it wants to really hone and refine those products it does release. In other words, the old adage of quality, not quantity.

He also added that he doesn’t think Apple gets enough credit for the amount of concepts and prototypes it bins because they’re only competent, rather than excellent.

There is, however, another way to look at the quality not quantity argument. Namely, that Apple finds a successful product, and pushes out new version after new version, year after year, with sometimes fairly minimal changes. Yet droves of consumers keep on purchasing.

The iPhone 4S certainly saw plenty of moaning on the minimal change front, with the rumour mill previously having built the handset up to be something more than it was.

The iPhone 5 is expected to do much more than its predecessor, moving the display size up to 4 inches in order to compete with the large-screened likes of the Galaxy S III.

Should the iPhone 5 not do enough, or be perceived to not do enough by the press at large, Apple could be in for a somewhat bumpier ride than normal. The firm has already had a slight slip compared to analysts’ expectations, and doesn’t want to risk another.