Tradeoff: secrecy VS patents?

Question

once a patent is submitted, there is no secrecy. How does a company maintain secrecy developing a new product while at the same time submitting the needed patent filings to protect the relevant intellectual property? One example that comes to mind is Apple (the company), which has a reputation for being secretive and successful at preventing 'leaks' of information regarding developing products. Another possible example is Kamen and the Segway. How does a company protect both secrecy and intellectual property?

Answer 1

secrecy has little to do with patents.

Answer 2

Intellectual property can be safeguarded in two ways, with a patent or with secrecy.

A patent gives legal protection but secrecy makes it impossible for competition to use the intellectual property. Obviously secrecy only works if the secret can be maintained, which might be nearly impossible for some industries.

Some companies prefer to keep things secret than seeking the legal protection of a patent just for that.