Probably not. But they’re trying awfully hard to be.

Since they don’t have anyone on staff to create anything as intuitive as an Apple product, they’re calling all top talent (and anyone else who wants to come along for the ride) to play around with ideas in their soon-to-come Chelsea-based accelerator, a concept for idea generation usually used by start-ups.

A quick look at the accelerator website shows just how hard they are trying to talk the talk. They are trying to master simplicity. But when your first line of body copy is “Do you want access to the largest device footprint in the world…” you’ve already lost that battle.

The same is the case in Mashable’s recent interview with Samsung’s Chief Marketing Officer, Todd Pendleton. Here’s a gem from his description of the 2-minute Superbowl spot with Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd (which, let’s admit, was pretty much an exercise in mediocrity):

We didn’t want to use celebs for the cool factor. They are very self-deprecating in their humor and we do the same thing, we make fun of ourselves. We don’t take ourselves too seriously.

But Samsung did use celebs for their cool factor. They used two actors who they thought would have direct appeal to the Apple crowd they seek, and they added in Lebron James to appeal to the rest of the world.

Beyond that, the first rule of coolness is “show don’t tell.” Show me how cool you are, Todd. Don’t tell me. When someone says they don’t take themselves too seriously, it usually means the exact opposite is true.

Now the Galaxy may be able to do more stuff than the iPhone. And it may end up selling more units down the road. Maybe soon.

But all I see is a brand who is trying to be better than another brand instead of a brand who knows its identity.

While Samsung bites and scratches and kicks its way to the top, Apple simply “is”. If there is any effort behind that “is”, we don’t see it. And that’s what makes it cool.