At this point it’s pretty clear that Apple has some sort of plans to get its feet wet in wearable technology, and most rumors suggest that the company will launch an iWatch at some point next year. We’ve heard that a team of at least 100 engineers is already working on the device, which may have a 1.5-inch screen and run a full version of iOS, but the Financial Times said Monday that Apple is now starting to “aggressively” hire new talent for the team.

The fear, FT said, is that Apple won’t have a brand new product in the next year, save for evolutionary updates to its existing product portfolio of mobile devices including the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Apple is already trademarking the iWatch brand and it makes sense that the company wants to get the best team behind the product as possible, especially if it wants to compete with rumored devices from Google and Sony’s new SmartWatch 2 device. A more recent rumor suggests Microsoft may try to enter the smart watch arena, too.

Apple isn’t just trying to hire new employees for the iWatch team, Financial Times said. In fact, it’s also considering acquiring small teams and companies that would bring in a group of talent at once. Pebble is currently a hot consumer smartwatch product, and it’s possible Apple has its eye on that company. The CEO of Pebble declined to comment on any discussions in February, however.