In January of 2007 Steve Jobs revealed the original iPhone. One day after his keynote, he went to his team and told them they need to replace the plastic screen with glass. He had been carrying the prototype iPhone in his pocket with his keys, which scratched the original plastic screen. His team told him durable glass would not be available for three to four years. Jobs did not take “no” for an answer. He said, “I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but when it ships in June it’s going to be glass.” The rest is history. The original iPhone did ship with what came to be known as “Gorilla Glass.”

Why was Jobs the one who discovered the flaw with the original plastic screen? Were the handful of other people with prototypes too scared to do anything “real world” with the iPhones?

A few months ago I went to buy new shorts. I hate trying clothes on, but since I have been losing weight I had no choice if I wanted a good fit. I tried on a pair of shorts and they seemed to fit fine without a belt. A couple days later I put these new shorts on and realized that when I tried them on in the store, I did not perform a proper test. As soon as I put my iPhone, keys, and wallet in the pockets, the shorts were falling down. So, thanks to Jobs I did not need a new iPhone screen but I did need to wear a belt. So much for real world testing.