can samsung be the next apple?

 Just a few doors down from the Apple store in Sydney, where a long line of fans eagerly awaited the sale of the new iPhone 4S, another throng was gathering at a Samsung store.

Samsung was ambushing Apple at a temporary "pop up" store offering its new Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone for just A$2 to the first 10 customers each day in the run-up to the rival iPhone launch.

The guerrilla marketing tactic is the latest flare-up in the intensifying competition between two of the biggest players in the mobile devices industry that has also seen them battle in courts across the world over patents.

What makes the battle so captivating is that the two companies are such contrasts. Apple is known for innovation and big ideas that create whole new markets. What Samsung lacks in ideas, it makes up for with a sleek production system that is lightning fast in bringing new products to market.

Still, Samsung Electronics delayed the unveiling of its latest smartphone, the Nexus Prime, by a week to Wednesday as a sign of respect following the death of Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs -- Apple is Samsung's biggest customers for microprocessors.

The Nexus Prime has been much anticipated because it is based on the latest version of Google's Android operating system, named "Ice Cream Sandwich" after previous versions also named after foods, such as Gingerbread and Honeycomb.

But the war for smartphone dominance is one Samsung appears to be winning for now, just. Third-quarter figures are expected to show it has overtaken Apple as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in terms of units sold.

The battle between Samsung and Apple is being waged not just in malls and stalls across the world, but in courtrooms as well.

On the same day Samsung was luring away potential Apple customers in Sydney with the Galaxy promotion, an Australian court slapped a temporary ban on the sale of Samsung's computer tablet, named the Galaxy Tab, in the country, saying Samsung infringed on Apple patents.

Apple has also scored preliminary injunctions against some Samsung products in Germany and the Netherlands, and seeks to block sales of Samsung models in the United States, the key smartphone battleground.

Samsung is trying to counter with lawsuits of its own, unsuccessfully so far, accusing Apple of infringing its technologies