Apple on Monday paid the price for its secretive ways when Cisco subsidiary Linksys launched an iPhone.

The iPhone, of course, is that name that bloggers and media have been using for a product that Apple is rumored to be launching. Although rumor has it that Apple has assigned contractors to manufacture the device, its name is shrouded in the level of secrecy that normally surrounds Apple launches.

Either way, Linksys is the big winner.

18 Dec 2006

If (and that's a big if) Apple has a different name for its mobile phone, Linksys today received a ton of free publicity.

But if the models that believed to be rolling of the conveyer belts in China right now are indeed labeled iPhone, Apple has a major trademark battle on its hands.

For Apple to claim ownership of the iPhone trademark, it would need to show that is has used the term over a period of time. Apple's rigid secrecy record prevents the firm from making any such claim. The company may have owned iphone.org since 1999, but never put the domain to any use.

Obsessive secrecy can have consequences.

technorati tags: linksys, apple, iphone