Even though I don't own any Apple products, I'm still glad they are around for this reason. More competition in the marketplace is good for me, the consumer, which should go without saying.<p>However, I'm not sure Android is a good example of your point. I think Android had been in the works for many years before the iphone was released (see: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)#History" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)#Hist...</a>). In fact, Apple multi-touch patents are holding it back at the moment.