Apple’s biggest product in its 50-year history surprised the engineers who designed it

Apple had never built anything so complex. But it was at a crossroads.

“We were like, people are only going to carry one device. They’re going to have a cell phone with music, or they’re going to have an Apple product with music and communications,” said Tony Fadell, the former Apple executive who co-created the iPod and helped lead the iPhone’s early development. “And it was like, ‘Okay, what are we going to make?’”

Fadell and other Apple executives watched as Motorola and Samsung released new cellphones with built-in MP3 players. They questioned whether the iPod’s days were numbered.