Apple design chief Jonathan Ive recently said that Apple's goal has always been to focus on making great products and not on making money. He also said that the original iPhone, which changed the smartphone landscape as we know it today, was almost shelved due to issues Apple ran into while developing the device.

Speaking during the British Embassy's Creative Summit, Ive explained one design issue that almost kept the iPhone from ever entering the market. "We nearly shelved the phone because we thought there were fundamental problems that we can't solve," Ive explained. "With the early prototypes, I held the phone to my ear and my ear [dialed] the number," he said, according to The Telegraph. "You have to detect all sorts of ear-shapes and chin shapes, skin colour and hairdo… that was one of just many examples where we really thought, perhaps this isn't going to work."

Of course, Apple's iPhone did end up entering the market in 2007. The Cupertino-based firm is going head-to-head with Samsung in a court case that kicks off today. As a result of the case, dozens of images of early prototypes of Apple's iPhone, which date back as far as 2004, have been revealed. It's unclear when Ive and Apple ran into the problems he discussed, but we're guessing it was before 2007.

[via The Telegraph]