I don't agree at all.
There were phones with some smart features before the iPhone. Things like the Trio, and palm pilot type devices, but none that really resemble what we know a "smartphone" to be today. And the fact that the design has really only had incremental changes since then is a testament to that.
By "the way we communicate" I didn't mean cell calls and sms... Obviously those were around before. I meant apps, and widespread adoption of having internet access in your pocket.
I don't see how marketshare is relevant. iPhone clearly was the invention that started the ball rolling.
Before the iPhone was announced, I remember a magazine, maybe Maximum PC? It had a whole article detailing what the rumored "apple phone" would look like. They basically predicted it would be a (at the time) very conventional candy bar phone, but with an OS that was a little more sleek and refined. They couldn't even concieve of how different it would be.