Thanks for that history. I was under the impression it was an Android, Inc. invention, but that it came from BeOS is blowing my mind.

Nope. Dianne Hackbourne was a key Be developer.

You also have most of the Intent system, the Receivers and Handlers as well as a lot of the general Android API to thank Be Inc for. When you look at the Be API, you can find analogues to most of the Android API, and once you realise that a bunch of the key developers were ex-Be Inc refugees it becomes a lot harder to see what is independent development, what was influenced by and what is a straight up clone of the Be API.