I'm not sure how likely it is that they're actually paying him money; seems like a bit risky thing to do. It could simply be that incentives align: being the most prominent public Apple defender is a role that pays well, in ad-views/influence/etc., even if Apple isn't literally paying you. And he could, you know, just really like Apple; the company has a lot of pretty earnest fans, who, like fans everywhere, tend to be keen to defend their heroes.