"9 billion to Apple is supposedly less than 1% of their supposed value"
There's a big difference - those 9bn from Google are cash or something equivalent, Apple supposed market value is just on paper - good when used to borrow, etc. - but something you can't really turn into real cash quickly without also sinking it as well. Also, shareholder expect dividends from profits (or buy-backs), and those profits won't come from the pure value of their shares. And a wrong step could quickly wipe a lot of that value.
Thus, getting billions of cash is something even Apple can't ignore - especially revenues like this which have microscopic associated costs, thereby are mostly a pure profit.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
