These things need to be observed over a longer period; not days, weeks and months, but years. So, yes, look at how Opera has changed following Chrome’s enormous success. They have gone beyond adopting simple minimalistic design principles, to actually building their browser on top of Chromium.
With regards to “who put what button where first” – this is irrelevant. Chrome and the Chromium project has had, and continues to have, a massive impact on other browsers and the net as a whole. Minimalist design principles aside, Chrome has also helped to revolutionise HTML, Javascript/DOM speed, web applications, and the very way in which people see web browsers.
Chrome is leading, and other browser vendors seem to be following. I don’t think Firefox’s developers have had one good original idea in years. Although, in fairness, Opera has had a few.. speed dial extensions and tab stacking, for example.