While Apple and Samsung continue to slug it out in their well publicized courtroom tussle, we thought we’d let our readers be the judge and jury of this one.

Earlier this week, Samsung opened the doors to its flagship “Experience” store to customers in Sydney, Australia. And guess what folks? It looks just like an Apple Store.

The store’s design and ethos bears a truly uncanny resemblance to what you’d expect to see in a retail outlet devoted exclusively to iPhones, iPads and Macs, except you won’t find any of that American junk in here.

It’s got the glass entrance; the open-floor plan with its airy, Spartan layout; a group demonstration area; blue t-shirts for all staff members; broad, rectangular wall displays; minimalist-design tables; and even a dedicated customer service desk where you’ll find “Samsung Smart Tutors” – a spitting image for Apple’s Genius Bar if ever we saw one.

Naturally, the Korean firm is vehemently denying that Apple has influenced the design or layout of its new store in any way, but as The Sydney Morning Herald points out, there’s no disputing it’s “Uncannily Apple-esque”.

An Apple store?

Tyler McGee, Vice President of Telecommunications for Samsung Australia, says that their new George Street store wasn’t at all influenced by Apple:

“It’s the same layout we use around the world, and it’s about basically giving the consumers the opportunity to interact, learn and play with our devices.”

Okay, so I’ll cut Samsung some slack here – blue is their corporate color, and there isn’t a whole lot that can be done to make a shop floor experience truly ‘unique’. But the fact remains, it’s hard not to take one look at the Samsung store pics and instantly be reminded of Apple’s pioneering, minimalistic stores.

A Samsung store?

Certainly, it’ll do little to refute Samsung’s claims that the only thing they’re good at is copying their rivals.

So what do you think, are Samsung guilty of yet more Korean-style ‘innovation’?

Images courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald