How an iPod with a rotary dial eventually became the iPhone

Tony Fadell, currently the CEO of Nest, has had a crucial role in the design of both the iPod and the iPhone, and boy has he got some stories to tell. 

In an interview at the SVForum in Palo Alto, California last week — fully transcribed by VentureBeat — Fadell shared a number of details on the early days of the iPod, the iPhone and Steve Jobs' legendary, dogged persistence when it comes to creating seemingly impossible gadgets. 

Fadell remembers the birth of the iPhone as an especially laborious one. He noted it took a total of two and a half to three years of research, design and development to create the device — which was then viewed as the iPod with a phone — and, at times, it seemed like an impossible task.  Read more...