When you buy a share you are buying a piece of a business and the future cash flows that it generates.
Looking at a figure like dividends is kind of meaningless. You specifically want to look at the cash flow that is available to owners. That cash flow can be used for different things (buybacks, reinvesting in the business, dividends, etc).
If a company can reinvest profits and grow their marketshare or move into new markets, it's usually in the shareholders interest for them to do so. That reinvestment may eliminate or shrink a dividend payment.
Many large companies are unable to achieve significant growth numbers and in those cases it's usually int he shareholders interest to issue a dividend.
Of course I guess the last time Apple paid a dividend was 1995, and they're trading at $259 a share.