Marilyn is right. The quick trip through the boiling water cooks a very thin layer of the flesh just under the skin, making it softer. This is why it doesn't work well with underripe or overripe fruit; the underripe doesn't soften enough and the overripe is already too soft. BTW, I use a related method to skin salmon fillets, which seem to only be available here with skin on. After spending months practicing, buying a special knife, etc. I was still leaving more flesh on the skin than I was happy with. One day I was distracted, and plopped an unskinned fillet into the hot pan, skin side down. I quickly realized my mistake, grabbed out the fish, and, Wow! the skin slipped right off! 30 seconds in a hot, hot pan, then use a blunt table knife to separate the skin -- if your table knives have little serrations like mine do, just use the back edge of the knife, if the fish was in the pan long enough it should do the trick just fine.

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