In his presentation to the Cupertino City Council last summer about Apple's proposed "spaceship" campus, Steve Jobs, the late Apple founder and CEO, said there wouldn't be a single piece of straight glass in the entire building.

But it's in Apple gadgets where the curved glass idea gets really exciting.

Rumors began circulating in September after (registration required) that Apple had purchased hundreds of special-purpose machines for the factory manufacturing of curved-glass displays. Some said the , or maybe the iPod, would become curved-glass devices.

The most compelling device for Apple would be a , which controls other Apple products and interacts via iCloud.

I think it's likely we'll see such a product very soon.