I believe that to be a lie, or at the very least a seriously misleading statement.
What the FBI has asked them to do is to remove the number of tries for entering a password, and to remove the delay for retrying another password entry.
Apple can update the firmware of a locked phone, and since it only takes a simple and minor code change to remove the number of tries and the delay time, Apple could do what the FBI has asked them to do in less than a day.
They just don't want to do it.
Giving in to the government's demand here would obliterate that selling point.
The government, in enforcing the law, should not be primarily concerned with what is profitable for Apple.
Can you imagine a Bank advertising that their safety deposit boxes were so secure that you could hide murder evidence in them?
I think any government would have a legitimate objection to that.
If it is so conceptually easy, then the government, if it is smart enough, should be able to write its own OS patches, since it already has the data and it already has the OS image.
What am I missing?
You’re on the wrong website.
The government is responsible for maintaining the well being of the people. The people include Apple, its investors and its customers.
What gives you or anyone outside of Apple the right to barge in on Apple’s copyrights and determine what is and what is not easy for Apple to do?
Do you know exactly how much effort goes into an OS release?
Are you a fed?
Well that convinces me because I know how objective you are.