Do you mind if I edit you again?
Nope, always fun to see what you choose... assuming I get to do a rebuttal later
Although in this case, I'd have quoted this section instead:
There is no first here. Like many other things, it was an idea whose time had come.
When technology reaches a certain capability / price point, many designers get similar ideas. After that, funding and publicity play a huge part... especially the latter.
For example, just a few months before the iPhone was revealed, the OpenMoko project had demonstrated a Linux based smartphone with multi-touch gestures and pinch to zoom. It had icons with an icon dock. Even a chrome bezel, I think. But it got very, very little publicity, because it wasn't from a company like Apple.
(At least, until the iPhone was revealed, at which point a few people wondered if Apple had copied some of those ideas.)
Everyone, Apple included, sees good ideas and expands on them. Apple wasn't first with a swipe-to-unlock. Or capacitive touch. Or Google Maps. Or location by cell id. Or zoomable browser. Or flick-scrolling. Or print quality "retina" display.
It was just a matter of time to see the best ideas put together. Apple deserves much praise for doing that. So does Android. So will MS with WP7.
Unless you're young enough that a few years seems like a long time, one company being a few months or even years ahead of another is really nothing in the grand scheme of things. The smartphone market will go on for years.
I'll say this too: currently sold smartphones are infants compared to what they could, should and will be capable of.