Someone needs to be the first to push it. In this case, Apple is probably the #1 or #2 generator of photographs on the planet, and it's a lot easier to make something happen quickly when the format is supported in that way.
HEIC is heavily patented. If it was apple's intent to push a new image format for everyone, they chose just about the worst one. It's much more likely they decided to trade off interoperability for lock-in and reduced file size.
"Innovation" is about the last thing you want in an interchange format. Old and boring works every time.
(Opinion of someone who maintains legacy software and has suffered from far too many breaking changes.)