I am not the only one that has this opinion. Code Toad says he can do it in 10 minutes.
We are not talking about changing one procedure call - there are multiple systems involved, and without thorough testing, a quick fix like you suggest would most likely result in bricking the phone anyway.
Multiple systems in a routine that counts to 10? Just how complicated a method do you suppose Apple uses to count to 10?
If you write code, you should know that any time you make a change in any part of the code, you risk introducing bugs that may affect parts of the code you hadn't even considered.
You must be using too many global variables. I can't imagine too many other methods of wrecking parts of code outside of subroutines except by using too many global variables.
But to make it simple, let's find the portion of code where we increment the "number of tries" counter. How about we change
Num_Tries++; to
//Num_Tries++?
I imagine there are a dozen ways to make a small code change to stop it from wiping the phone.
Apart from that, the FBI filing claims Apple has admitted they can do it.
When the government first realized that Apple retained the means to obtain that data from the SUBJECT DEVICE and that due to the way that Apple created the software Apple was the only means of obtaining that data, the government sought Apple's voluntary assistance. Apple rejected the government's request, although it conceded that it had the technical capability to help.
CodeToad is a long time anti-Apple Hate brigade member and is no more expert on these devices than you are. He is NOT someone to use as an expert voice on how to do this. He knows no more than do you about how to do it. He is NOT AT ALL FAMILIAR WITH iOS. Zip, nada, Nothing. CodeToad is not an Apple user.
We concede that Apple has more than the technical expertise to do this. The question is NOT that can it handle, but SHOULD it. The first is technical, the other philosophical and Constitutional.