Russian newspaper claims Apple has applied for ‘iWatch’ trademark in the country

While Apple typically uses a shell corporation abroad to register for trademark names of upcoming, unreleased products, Russian newspaper Izvestia (via AppleInsider.ru) reports that the company has filed for the “iWatch” trademark in Russia, further fueling speculation that “iWatch” will be the name of Apple’s much rumored wearable, wristwatch device.

Tonight newspaper “Izvestia” gave a sensational news: the company Apple has filed with Rospatent application for registration of the trademark ” iWatch “. We think, do not even need to explain what this might mean.

While the report gives the impression that this is confirmation of an upcoming watch product from Apple, it’s of course not that simple. Apple has a couple times ran into issues with trademarks of new products, most notably with its long-lasting trademark battle over the iPad trademark in China and its decision to rename Apple TV from its original “iTV” moniker due to troubles with the British TV network of the same name. Apple, and most other companies for that matter, also typically trademark several names and variations prior to product releases that may or may not ever see the light of day. Apple would also have to go through a number of companies developing smart wristwatch-like devices that have filed for the trademark in the US (many as recently as February).

Back in March, Bloomberg claimed Apple had over 100 product designers currently working on its wristwatch device that most publications have tentatively referred to as ‘iWatch’. A more recent report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has been quite accurate with Apple related predictions in the past, claimed that the highly anticipated wearable wrist device will not arrive until late 2014.