> wound Apple's pride

do businesses really "think" in a personified manner as this? isnt it just what the accounting resolves to as the optimal path?

Despite decades of efforts to reduce individual accountability in corporations to zero, companies (as social groupings) definitely still have some sense of identity that shines through in decisions.

The C-levels leading the companies might, and the tech CEOs in question have been at the helm for a long enough while to build up some emotional feelings.