BMW has long been the first to innovate vehicle technologies, and consequently gets a lot of bad press. Then later on, other companies imitate and supposedly "improve" on it so the media doesn't hate it as much.

Yes, iDrive was a BMW thing. Then everyone else started it.
I believe the adaptive xenons was also a BMW-first
Same with Valvetronic (hasn't been imitated)
Styling..........everyone hated the 7-series. Now look at how many look-alikes there are.
6-speed automatic back with the 7-series. Then MB came out with an excellent 7-AT. Now Lexus is playing the numbers game with a mediocre 8-AT.

The list goes on. I don't think sunshades are a BMW-only thing. While I have seen them on 15-year-old 750li's, I've also seen them on MB S-class.