Is Google entering the smartwatch market too?

Reports suggest the company's Android department is developing its own intelligent timepiece.

Reports suggest the company's Android department is developing its own intelligent timepiece.

According to The Financial Times, there could soon be three competing smartwatches on the market -- one from Samsung, one from Apple and now, one from Google too.

Said to be under development in the company's Android department, if the report is true, it means that it could be much closer to completion than a number of Google's other future products and services.

The search giant's much-hyped Google Glass headset was developed in the company's secret X Lab where its crazier and more challenging ideas and concepts take shape, often over many years.

In contrast, the Android department is focused on reality and on pushing things out on a regular basis.

As well as a source that claims to have been briefed on the project, the FT also points to a recently granted patent application for a smartwatch that Google filed in 2011 in order to support its story.

The report also makes it clear that Google's rumored effort is not connected to Samsung's smartwatch product.