I guess what he meant in essence was - would Android exist at all if iOS hadn't shown the world how great smartphone OSs could be? Just like Apple showed the world how good PC OSs could be back in the 80s.
Very important not to underestimate the polish and usability that iOS brought to the table. I remember looking into developing an app for symbian and realising how tricky it would be (tools, guides, lack of examples, crappy devices, etc).
I guess it's an overreaction to the more zealous of Apple customers. They want to give Apple all the credit when their contribution was to create a significant stepping stone. I know most people who use Apple's products see the company as an important part of an enormous mix of players all doing something important.
Given that Google bought Android in 2005 and was reasonably far along when the iPhone came out, I'd say it is safe to say that Android would have existed whether or not iOS did.
Would it have been significantly different today? Sure. But by that standard, iOS would have been significantly different today without Android, too.
