One such example is Obj-C and NeXTStep's influence on Java (http://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/stuff/java-objc.html). Of course it was really NeXT's influence, but it was still Steve Jobs and company behind the scenes.
Anyway, I just think the hyperbole is way out of place. Apple is not going to dramatically alter the web app development landscape. Some people (mostly people who've built Apple desktop apps) will find Objective-J a more comfortable way to build web apps, and that's wonderful. But it's not a world-shaking thing.
I simply provided a single example that refuted your conjecture that Apple had no influence in the development world. It's irrelevant what either one of us thinks of Java or its future; Java was a significant, mainstream development tool and it was impacted by Apple development technologies.