A Sign of Lack of Understanding & Imagination
"...i would not see that as a sign of confidence in their design process or design team that it took them that long to solve such a simple problem,"
Let's see. How about first considering that the back of the iphone is glass not plastic? Now, exactly how opaque is white glass? Second, how do you block translucent light bleeding through that white glass so it doesn't affect the camera's sensor, especially if you're using the LED flash? Your 'simple problem' becomes much, much more complex.
Yes, they could have used a short cut and put white plastic on the back, but it wouldn't look or feel the same as a black one and Apple would have received nothing but grief from the masses for taking such a short cut. To me, the effort could be a waste of time and money if the next version iPhone doesn't use the same glass backs, but it does prove that Apple is all about the whole product, not just its myriad parts.
