When the iPhone was released many laughed at it and said it was too expensive and that Apple didn't know anything about phones... And yet it promptly destroyed the competition and reshaped the whole industry. Arguably all smartphones on the market today are copies of the iPhone (which sales have grown exponentially year on year from its release in 2007 [first Android version in 2008] until 2015).

I can't imagine how any of that could have been "soul crushing", or felt like a "punch in the stomach" for anyone at Apple, including when competitors started to play catch-up by copying. I expect it was the exact opposite feeling, actually.