Given that Samsung clearly likes to follow in Apple’s footsteps, it comes as no surprise to us that it is set to open 1,400 Apple-esque Experience Shops in Best Buy stores throughout the United States.

The Korean company is aiming to give potential customers the opportunity to get their hands on its mobile products and “experience how the devices connect together to enrich their lives” before they decide to purchase them. Specially trained “Samsung Experience Consultants” will also be there to offer post-purchase support.

It’s no secret that Samsung outspends Apple on advertising by a huge margin. Whether those ads are crap or strokes of genius, of course, is a matter of opinion. But dollar for dollar, the truth is clear: Samsung has to spend more money to get its smartphones noticed than Apple does.

A common method for finding apps in the iTunes App Store is to do a quick search in Google. Searching the App Store for "Tweetbot" can take a lot longer than Googling "Tweetbot App Store" in a browser.

Links to iTunes have always been near the top of the first page when you search for an app, but iTunes results have recently started appearing lower in Google’s search results with no explanation.<!–more–>

For instance, searching "Twitter iTunes" or "Twitter App Store" reveals an actual link to the App Store several spots below less relevant links, like iTunes Twitter accounts. Both TechCrunch and The Next Web have collected examples of apps that have been allegedly demoted in Google search.

"The search penalty, or search bug if that’s the case, doesn’t seem to affect all apps to the same degree," reports TechCrunch. "And the rankings also depend on what search terms are used, and whether the user is signed in."

Logging into your personal Google account will obviously change the way Google presents search results in your browser. But this potentially nefarious activity is being observed when logged out too.

Google changes its search algorithms all the time, and this may just be a bug that will go away in due time. I tried searching "Snapchat iTunes," and the App Store link was the top result. But there seems to be enough smoke here for there to be fire. Hopefully Google will issue an official statement to clarify the issue.

Update: Google says that this is merely a technical error with fetching pages from Apple’s servers, and the both companies are working to resolve the problem.

For the last two years, Best Buy stores across the country have hosted a mini Apple Store within a store to bring more attention to Apple’s iMacs and MacBooks. As a point of solace from the barrage of tablets, desktop PCs, and laptops in Best Buys busy stores, the little Apple Stores give customers more time and space to play with Apple’s PC products, so Samsung has decided to take a similar approach with their mobile products.

To kick off the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Best Buy plans to setup a Samsung store-within-a-store in some of its highest traffic stores. Rather than hawking PC products, the Samsung store-within-a-store will focus on Samsung’s mobile offerings.

While Google’s Android platform may be the biggest rival to iOS, the search giant is happy to support users who choose Apple’s device. In fact, thanks to apps like YouTube and Google Maps, Google is the App Store’s top publisher, beating Apple on its own turf.