Samsung bids for Apple's crown In a literally all-singing and all-dancing show in New York, Samsung this week launched the Galaxy S4 phone. It's a device that tracks whether a user is watching it, features a touchscreen you don't actually need to touch and a camera with the handy option to erase people who've ambled unwanted into your picture. Such was the excitement that analysts claimed it will be the first handset to outsell the iPhone. Synthesio, a company which examines online sentiment, claimed the phone sparked more than 150,000 digital conversations, and that positive comments outweighed the negative "overwhelmingly." This might not be a completely surprising development - the Galaxy S4 builds on the S3, which was the best-selling Android phone last year, and includes features that catch the public imagination because of smart ideas and smarter marketing. Analysts at CCS Insight argued that it's the marketing budget that makes the Samsung operation irresistible. Others, however, such as respected digital strategist Ben Evans pointed out that the device remains as polarising as any Apple product ever was. He noted on Twitter that "some people see an amazing phone and others a lot of gimmicks wrapped in plastic." While that may be a harsh verdict, and it ignores the fact that Samsung has upgraded the plastic it uses for the S4, the Korean company's status as the next Apple, with all the benefits and curses that brings, is likely to continue unabated. Its aim in New York was to stake a claim to the American market but also to establish the phone as a gateway device to everything from games, where it launched a very Xbox-like controller, to home health, via compatible scales and blood pressure monitors. That's a particularly attractive pitch for Samsung, who make all the other devices the S4 works with - that includes replacing your TV remote and even, say, controlling your washing machine. It's making a bid that, as analysts put it, aims to convert consumer loyalty and enthusiasm for smartphones into a force to make it a truly global brand with the power once enjoyed by Sony and today by Apple. As more people start to doubt that Apple is the force it once was, the prospects of that becoming a reality are only increasing, just as the importance of the smartphone accelerates too.