[jshevek]

It would have cost apple time and money to do what the FBI requested. This wasn't simply 'send us a file', they asked them to make a custom version of the software.

And if they did it, the FBI would have made more future requests for apple to spend time and money.

And if the custom software somehow got out into the wild, that would threaten apple's bottom line as well.

The FBI situation was just another example of apple taking care of themselves.