I’m not tearing down anything. Simply pointing out reality. Reality is that Apple is not first in their markets. And there’s nothing wrong with that, very few companies manage to be first at anything ever, and usually the company that is first at something can’t figure out how to monetize it and goes under, if they’re lucky they get bought by somebody that sees the money possibility. Apple wasn’t first at the PDA, first to call it that sure, but not the first with the functional concept. In general Psion is considered to have been first to that market in 1984, maybe there were other companies with similar stuff out, maybe even before then, but all those things you want to throw out there doesn’t change the basic fact that 1992’s Newton was not first.
Now it doesn’t bother me that Apple wasn’t first, just like it doesn’t bother me that the company I work for wasn’t first into the technology market of the product I work on. If it bothers you then you probably shouldn’t be such a fanboy with parts of your ego tied to some company you’re probably not even a part of.
Like I always say, Apple isn't usually the first to do it, but often the first to do it right.