Apple considered a physical keyboard for its first iPhone release

Apple's former SVP of the iPod division, Tony Fadell, has revealed in a recent interview with US-based tech show On The Verge that an iPhone sporting a physical keyboard was a "heated topic" during the development stage of the Cupertino company's extremely popular smartphone.

According to Fadell, Apple toyed with three different iPhone prototypes before settling on the smartphone design that transformed the mobile landscape in June 2007.

The three options Apple weighed up during the development process were: an iPod featuring phone functionality, an iPhone, and a "next-generation" iPhone. The Big A ended up choosing that last one.

It's no surprise that Steve Jobs and his team looked at incorporating a physical keyboard into the original iPhone given the immense popularity of RIM's BlackBerry devices back then.

As the majority of you will already know, Apple eventually launched an iPhone packing just an on-screen touch-enabled keyboard, which has done alright.