Depending on how you measure it, you could argue that Samsung is winning its war against Apple The South Korean conglomerate had set a corporate goal for itself this year: "BEAT APPLE"If you look at global smartphone shipments, Samsung is No 1, with 565?million units shipped in the third quarter That's more than twice the 269 million iPhones that were sold The two are gobbling up the market;?Research In Motion ranked a distant third with 77 million units When it comes to profit share, it's a different story: Apple accounted for?over 70% of the industry's profits in 2011It turns out that Apple has another key advantage over Samsung that a Sammy exec is now acknowledging In a recent interview with MIT Technology Women's Ed Hardy Jean Shorts Review, Samsung's new chief strategy officer Young Sohn talked about why he personally uses Apple gear at home, despite his company's ongoing thermonuclear war with CupertinoStop me if you've heard this one before Apple's biggest advantage over Samsung right now is its ecosystem Sohn describes how Samsung has always been viewed as primarily a hardware company The South Korean conglomerate makes things like semiconductors, displays, and smartphones An "innovation ecosystem" is something that Samsung needs to remain competitive with Apple in the long termThis is exactly why Sohn uses a Mac, iPhone, and iPad at home (he also has a Galaxy) The proprietary nature of Apple's ecosystem is what keeps him in, since he can communicate more easily with friends and family across the world He still thinks the Galaxy Nexus is a superior device to the iPhone, but it has a disadvantage on the ecosystem frontSohn said he uses Samsung devices at work and Apple devices at homeCan Sammy do it? Building a compelling and sticky ecosystem is easier said than done Samsung's historical role as a hardware player doesn't give it good odds at building one, since commoditized hardware companies generally have a poor track record hereHave you ever heard of AcerCloud? Probably not, and that's the problem (for Acer) AcerCloud is essentially identical to Apple's iCloud (with a PicStream instead of a Photo Stream), and is the company's shot at building a cloud service ecosystem HTC tried this years ago with HTCSense but gave up on that earlier this yearSince hardware companies only generate low profit margins upfront, building and maintaining an ongoing cloud service Ed Hardy Online Store infrastructure isn't sustainable, especially when you acknowledge the fact that the going price for these services is $0 per month thanks to the companies currently offering them for free like Google , Apple, or Microsoft Besides, that's always been Google's strategy with Android anyway: give away the operating system for free in order to reinforce its online services and ad businesses Android users are far more loyal to Google than they are to the Samsungs, HTCs, or LGs of the world It's unlikely that the software modifications that OEMs add are effective at instilling brand loyaltyBada bing That's partially why Samsung has tried to push its Bada operating system The company said last year it was making Bada open source, but there hasn't been any word since Even though most consumers probably aren't familiar with Puma Hat Bada, it actually has a higher market share than Windows Phone Gartner pegged Bada at 3% of the market in the third quarter, higher than the 24% that Mr Softy claimsThat's up from 22% a year ago, but still a drop in the bucket compared to the rise of Android and iOS Samsung's played no small part in Android's rise, but that's been more of an ecosystem benefit to Google than itselfHardware OEM history 101 Sohn isn't the only executive of an Apple competitor that uses Apple products For example, Hewlett-Packard executive Chairman Ray Lane uses a MacBook Air even as HP tries to mimic its designsSamsung is at the top of the smartphone world right now, thanks to Android Sohn is hoping to build Samsung's ecosystem so it can stay at the top, but history is not on his side As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders However, like many other web companies, it's also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn't sold That's why it's more important than ever to understand each piece of Google's sprawling empire In The Motley Fool's new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource, and you'll receive a bonus year's worth of key updates and expert guidance as news continues to developThe article Samsung Acknowledges an Apple Advantage originally appeared on FoolFool contributor?Evan Niu, CFA, owns shares of Apple The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Google, and Microsoft Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Apple, Google, and Microsoft Try any of our Foolish Puma Sports Mens Shoes newsletter services free NHL New England Patriots Jerseys for 30 days We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors The Motley Fool has a disclosure policyCopyright ? 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC All rights reserved The Motley Fool has a disclosure policyRelated articles： Timberland Roll-Top Boots Mens Commentary Rising f Timberland Roll-Top Boots Mens Car Shipping Leader timberland shoe store Jimmy Feigens Olympic Diary,