The iPhone is one of the most successful products currently on the market. They’ve got the right design aesthetic, price points, marketing moves, and most importantly the right products. It’s really hard to imagine the iPhone being less than anything successful. One former design lead for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) claims that the makers behind the world’s favorite phone don’t always come up with the right ideas, and that’s why they had to nix two potential iPhone ideas.
Thanks to the ongoing patent war between Apple and Samsung, the former Industrial Design Creative Lead and Industrial Design Manager Douglas Satzger divulged some interesting details about what flopped when he worked at Apple, during the time period of 1996 through 2008. He said that the company originally wanted to create their first iPhone with two pieces of shaped glass, but that design didn’t pan out because it was costly and too prohibitive.
The iPhone prototype, which was labeled “0355”, needed contoured glass that was manufactured in two separate pieces, but that move would prove to cost more that they were willing to shell out. Also, many of the members on his team were not really keen on the design. Satzger claimed that the quality of glass might have had something to do with it.
Satzger also claimed that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) tried to test out the iPhone Mini, which was similar to the design of the iPod Mini. Unfortunately, the prototype for this model failed in the comfort and connectivity test department. He explained, “My recollection of it was, that to get the extruded aluminum design that was applied to the iPod to work for the iPhone, there were too many added features to allow it to be comfortable and to work properly. If you put an iPod up to your ear, the sharp edges, because of the processes, aren’t comfortable, and you can’t get antennas to work properly in a fully enclosed metal jacket.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn’t like to divulge in a lot of details regarding future and past products, so we know that there is a lot more information regarding these failed prototypes than we will ever know. If you want to find out more about Apple’s failed iPhone prototypes as well as uncover some interesting images, be sure to check out this link from Apple Insider.
It’s interesting to see what might have been, and to know that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) made the right decision by nixing these ideas. Can anyone really imagine a mini iPhone or a phone made with curved glass? It’s reports like this that remind us how just far Apple has come.
