Not really true at all, the Android project started years before there was ever an iPhone and mobile personal computing and communication has been a core interest of Google almost since it was founded, and moreover, has been of great interest to numerous companies and predicted in academia for decades.
Apple didn't create the smartphone frenzy, they just produced a good product and marketed it very well and let their large fanbase make lots of sales. There was a smartphone frenzy way before the iPhone was released.
The same with things like the iPod. Portable music players have existed since the technology ever became available. Sony is a far bigger contributor to this, Walkman anyone? Pocket MP3 players had existed long before the iPod. Apply simply released a good product that looked nice and had reasonable ergonomics. There was no technological innovation their, good product engineering, design and marketing coming together.
Apple innovates on aesthetics, design, marketing, perhaps even quality. They don't innovate technology, they follow in the footsteps of others and release high quality products, which is great for them .
Apple does create lots of good competition, but don't forget that the competition would still be there even without Apple. There are many multi-billion dollar companies competing in all the markets Apple does.