Actually I'd disagree with you in one sense - the US economy seems a lot better than it really is. Yes, the economy crashed in 2008 but the recovery you mention is a mirage, built on more debt, the exact same problem that caused the 2008 crash in the first place. Indeed thanks to QE we now are massively overcommitted and rely on near 0% rates to afford to service the debt. We're obviously not growing out of it despite how hard central banks try to inflate the debt away - in fact it's having the exact opposite effect from that predicted by standard models.

Indeed, the investor class have successfully redirected a portion of the unprecedented expansion in base money into their own accounts, but the majority of citizens have made little to no improvement in their lives over the past seven years. Indeed many have gone backwards. Headline economic statistics like the unemployment rate look good on the surface, but dig deeper and you see a participation rate at 40+ year lows, strong growth in over 55s minimum wage jobs (probably to fund their retirements as the return on 'safe' fixed investments in now nothing), yet no growth and outright contraction in employment for the most important demographics such as 25-54.

Despite the usual Slashdot non-believers it's a dead certainty. As soon as Google bought Motorola Mobility, it was on the cards that Samsung would look elsewhere. The fact the Google could potentially favor their own hardware development team, rather than a licensee, is strategically enough to change Samsung's strategy. The other big issue is the App store. I see figures bandied around of anything from 80% to 94.7% of Android ecosystem revenue going to Samsung devices. If it's anything like that, Samsung will have their eyes on the 30% developer fees they can take from their own App store, rather than that going to Google. Also, with the Tizen's Android compatibility layer built right in, it's effectively telegraphing the market that Samsung will switch to Tizen. Just a matter of time. I think sooner, rather than later.