Yes, initially, they pretty much WERE the smart phone market. Before them were the 'feature phones'. (Yes, some folks call Blackberrys and Palms 'smart phones', but they weren't. As anyone who's been tethered to a Blackberry knows.
No.
Apple was very much a late comer to the smartphone market.
I used HTC phones for years before Apple finally joined the market with their iPhone line.
Consumers into the whole human cattle/ shared herd experience thing didn’t become aware of them until Apple entered the market...but then Apple never enters any market until after the pioneers and the second generation developers prove that market financially viable.