You're all forgetting about Blackberry and Palm.

Page and Brin purchased Rubin & Co.'s Android to compete against Blackberry and Palm as well. The earliest Android models borrowed heavily from the BB and Palm interface as well as Windows.

It wasn't until iPhone came out that Google realized Apple created a game-changer and decided to pursue that direction.

Here's what the original Android prototype looked like: http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2011/11/607064...

Looks very similiar to the other Windows/BB/Palm phones at that time. To Rubin's credit, his former company Danger created a great interface with the HipTopOS (aka T-Mobile's Sidekick) that used the trackwheel pretty well.