And, while I'm at it, others may be revisionists, you lack nuance.
At a surface level, you're correct the Android re-design in 2008 was primarily because of the arrival of the iPhone in '07. The reason for the re-design was the inclusion of a touch-screen in Apple's hardware spec. Apple was not the first company to introduce mobile computing handsets with touch screens; that honor goes to IBM.
Android was founded in 2003, and was looking to come into the digital camera market initially, before their acquisition by Google. Then they were looking to compete against Blackberry and Windows phones. UI design experiences have been playing off each other since the beginning.
Apple doesn't solely define the market, and people who work for them wouldn't assert that. They define their niche, which is the smarter business proposition.