Sir Jonathan Ive, the man credited with shaping the iPad and iPhone and whose personal fortune is estimated at $130m, said today that Apple’s guiding principal was nothing to do with its balance sheet, instead it simply wanted to make “great products”.

“Our goal isn’t to make money. Our goal absolutely at Apple is not to make money. This may sound a little flippant, but it’s the truth,” said the British designer. “Our goal and what gets us excited is to try to make great products. We trust that if we are successful people will like them, and if we are operationally competent we will make revenue, but we are very clear about our goal.”

It just does sound so lovely, doesn’t it? Just be excellent and the money will come rolling in. Don’t worry too much about anything but just the beautiful products.

Well, yes. Except that doesn’t really explain closing down the US manufacturing operations and shipping it all to China. Nor the willingness to ay those assembling the stuf $200 a month while making 5o% gross margins. Or the insistence that the airtime carriers must subsidise the cost of the iPhone to the punter.

Now I would actually defend all of those and more of Apple’s buisiness actions. Quite happily defend them, indeed have, vocally.

But sorry, doing all of that and then claiming you’re not doing it all to make money: no, sorry, that’s just made me gag.

Of course you’re out to make cash: that’s the whole damn point of being in business. Just own up to being capitalists in a capitalist economy.