Does Samsung Have Initiative on Apple?

“Apple’s already lost,” said Porter Bibb, a venture capitalist, on CNBC’s “Fast Money”. “Samsung has taken over the global market share in terms of smartphones and tablets, and Apple still has a marginal lead here in the U.S., but during the second quarter this year, Samsung will become the market leader here, as well.”

Bibb spoke just a few hours ahead of Samsung’s (SSNLF.PK) Galaxy S4 launch event in New York, a choice of location that attracted no small amount of chatter. As Bibb notes, the U.S. is Apple’s strongest market, and following a launch in London it was either go big or go back home. Samsung capitalized on the moment, increased its U.S. mobile phone ad spending by over 400 percent over the course of 2012, and made much ado about the launch.

Many analysts and observers suggest that the launch of the Galaxy S4 puts Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on the smartphone defensive. That is, Samsung has the momentum and just leapfrogged the iPhone 5, and the next iteration of the iPhone won’t be released until at least the third quarter, according to recent estimates. Bibb went as far as to suggest that comments made by Apple marketing director Phil Schiller were a sign of weakness…