Many of us have realized that the iPhone 4 has been designed to be even more fragile than it's predecessors. Apple has stepped up its game by evolving the phone into a more edgy looking device while simultaneously ensuring that the new iPhone will be purchased/repaired again and again. What am I talking about? It's the front AND back of the phone which is now made of glass.
You may be asking yourself the same question that passed through my head several times; why would they make the back cover glass. Other than the fact that there is a flash and a camera at the top (which do not require glass to function, there is no viable reason to make the back so fragile other than knowing it is another potential stream of revenue for Apple. Most of us who have dropped our iPhone and broken the screen know that before this creation you would be praying the entire way down hoping the phone would land rugged back cover and spare the glass. This is no more...drop the phone...and one portion of the glass WILL break.
How do you protect your phone from such a thing? Minimize the amount of surface area of exposed glass. The first and most obvious way to do this is to get a case for the iPhone 4. This will protect the screen from breaking and will simultaneously protect the back cover from breaking.
The next way to protect the phone is to take one of those "livestrong" bracelets and wrap it around the parimeter of the phone. This will act as a barrier between the ground and the corners of the glass. Both methods mentioned above will also decrease the reception issues that are plaguing the iPhone 4.
Once again, Apple wooed us all with their creation and once they reeled us in, they dropped the trap of ensuring their residual income in the future.