The difference is that Apple is a for-profit company so they have to reinvest a portion of that back into the company, while NASA can - in fact, should - spend the entire budget :)
For sure - I wasn't advocating that Apple devote most resources to space travel, science and exploration. Just that they could afford to buy a launch or two from SpaceX like NASA does. It may even be in their financial interest to put up their own satellites with high-res cameras and telescopes. Mac desktop background images are celestial objects already. "Our latest innovation. Our best work. From Space."
Plus we know that Apple Maps could use a little help.
