While I support the endorsement of Amazon's data-driven culture and strategy, I don't think it's fair to describe Apple as its opposite. Apple is not the gut-driven, "bet the company" firm that the general public seems to think it is. Its bets are very data-driven, albeit not quite as real-time-data-driven as a company like Amazon's, whose business model allows for more real time data in the first place.

In broad strokes, I think I'd describe the two companies this way: Amazon innovates through optimization of new markets, while Apple innovates through creating new markets. This isn't a wholly fair description of either company, and as we know, there are exceptions in either direction. But that's the business model of the two companies at a 30,000-foot glance.

As you've hinted, probably the best way to differentiate the strategies of the two companies is on the risk/reward dimension. Amazon operates on a risk-minimization model, while Apple is risk-seeking in favor of outsized rewards. This is partially because Apple is still a hardware company (for now, at least), and it needs to keep reinventing its products to stay ahead of the commoditization of hardware.