Apple's Secret Hiding Place

If you want an idea of what's next to come out of Apple Computer's (AAPL Quote) idea factory, you might want to look to Hong Kong. Or maybe Singapore. Or possibly even Europe.

But you don't need an airline ticket. Instead, you can take a virtual trip on the Internet to the trademark offices of those countries and areas. Do a search for "Apple Computer" and you'll come up with all the phrases and images Apple has trademarked -- or applied to trademark -- in recent years.

For many of Apple's recent products and services, such as the iPod shuffle and nano lines and the Aperture photo-editing program, the company had filed a related trademark in locales far from its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters months before they were launched. ...