[pfg]

The FBI is asking for firmware that disables its anti-brute-force delays and auto-wipe feature. The estimate Apple gave is for creating that firmware and signing it with their key. They're not breaking the crypto, but merely making an brute-force attack more viable (by reducing the delay to ~80ms, which is how long the hash algorithm takes per passcode).

The intelligence community would need access to Apple's firmware signing key in order to do this themselves. (IIRC, in their latest court filing, the FBI actually mentioned this would work for them if Apple is unwilling to implement the firmware changes.)

[pointernil]

Thanks for clarifying this.