Just days after news hit the web that Google was planning to produce a watch powered by their Android operating system, the company’s competitors at Apple have jumped into the same fray.

Rumors began circulating on Monday that Apple had submitted a patent application for their so-called “iWatch” in Japan. According to a report published by Reuters, the Japan Patent Office went ahead and released information about the patent application on June 27, several weeks after its June 3 submission date. The iWatch patent includes wristwatch products, but also extends beyond them, into Apple’s familiar stomping ground of computers and computer accessories, suggesting that the new Apple product would be some combination of all three.

According to Apple experts, the Japan patent application–and a similar application that was reportedly submitted in Russia–mesh with similar warning signs that have preempted Apple products in the past. One particularly skilled analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, believes that these patents are of a piece with other filings made earlier this year for “curved screens” and “batteries.” Kuo thinks that Apple is both working on a “wearable” product–of which a wristwatch would be the most obvious endeavor–and that the new watch will have a biometric anti-theft function fitted to recognize and operate for a specific user. As for release date, the new apparatus could be on the market as soon as 2014.

Beyond those predictions, the form that the Apple iWatch could take is still open to speculation. Numerous smart-watches already exist, with bluetooth capability, smartphone compatibility, and outstanding water resistance as some of their key, state-of-the-art characteristics. But many do not expect Apple to simply walk in the trail of their forebears. Just as the company revolutionized (and in a big way, popularized) smartphones with the introduction of the iPhone, they could redefine the wristwatch for a new generation. Could the watch end up just being a miniaturized version of the iPhone, with text, call, and music-playing capability? Or will it be less communication-based and more defined by apps and internet access?

Regardless of the path Apple chooses with the iWatch, the company is certainly not the first major tech company laying a foundation for new forays into wearable products. Now that mobile devices have been perfected and optimized in both power and size, companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung have the technology to take things one step further. Google is certainly hoping to lead the charge, not just with their own smart-watch, but also with the upcoming and much-buzzed-about Google Glass. Meanwhile, Samsung is also reportedly in the process of developing a smart-watch. No matter when Apple drops this new product, they will not be far ahead of the curve.