Are we doing feature based checklists now, or comparing good implementations? Multitasking on a small device is largely a UI problem, and it sounds like Apple solved it almost like Palm did. You don't think they do research on what's out there, see how other people have solved problems, and adapt those solutions to what they're trying to do?
I suspect Apple had a roadmap for all of these long before WebOS or Android came out. Could the final form have been influenced by those? Unknowable from outside. I'm not sure in what way you think this looks like Palm's solution.
