The makers of the tough glass protecting all manner of devices has said that their glass technology is used by over 1 billion to prevent scratches, in their company quarterly earnings report. Corning was founded 161 years ago in by Amory Houghton, in Somerville, Massachusetts with bussines in manfacturing glass and ceramics based products. Later in 1868 the company was moved to the city of Corning, New York from where its taken the name ‘Corning’.

Gorilla Glass was first researched from the 1960s, but didn’t have major comercial use up until 2006 with the support of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the release of the first iPhone. The now fabled story goes as; Apple where ready for the launch of the iPhone and Jobs had been trying out the device for a few days. After leaving it in his pockect that also had his keys in, he noticed some fairly major scratches appearing on the glass. Jobs being the perfectionist was not happy about this. A friend, John Seeley Brown, who sits at the board of directors for Corning suggested that he talk to the CEO Wendell Weeks. Gorilla Glass was the tech to be tried out and Jobs was sold to it, asking Corning to make it full time. Today the glass tech is used in over 33 major brands and over 900 product models such as tablets, smartphones, ultrabooks and television sets. The current version, 2, is more touch sensitive, 9% thinner and 20% lighter than the original glass, but offers the same scratch resistance protection.

Figures released in the earnings report show that ales rose 7% from the last quarter to the $2.04 billion mark but down 2% year over year. Sales due to ‘Specialty Materials segment’ ie Gorilla Glass were $363 million, a 23% sequential and 21% year-over-year increase. Corning also have an “ultra-slim flexible glass” called Willow Glass which the company say will make it easier to manufacturer curved glass surfaces and therefore more affordable and lead to new smartphone designs.