Sir Jony Ive, Apple's senior VP of industrial design, recently spoke about the challenges of crafting well-designed products for mass production at the British Embassy's Creative Summit. Wired UK reports that he said "our goal isn't to make money" but "what makes us excited is to make great products."

He goes on to explain that Apple doesn't do market research, saying "it will guarantee mediocrity and will only work out whether you are going to offend anyone." Ive said that when Steve Jobs returned to Apple during its moment of financial turmoil, it was "his resolve was to make better products," rather than traditional business austerity techniques, that brought about Apple's return to success. While Ive's description of Apple's philosophy on the genesis of new products seems quite felicitous in light of the company's lawsuit against Samsung, it's also an interesting look into the company's non-traditional approach to financial success in the consumer electronics industry.