Of course they did because it's not possible? Topic is super misleading. The FBI did request that apple add a security backdoor, something hackers gleefully waiting for. It'll be like christmas, hannukah, and their birthday combined if that happens.

The phone in question was not owned by the terrorist, but by his employer. His employer has consented to the search. What's Apple's problem?

THe problem is that Apple is being asked to build a modified iOS to extract that information from that phone. Should that software get into the wrong hands or if the FBI decides to keep that software for future use, then Apple's credibility about security will be at stake.

Do you want a phone always secure or never?

Should Apple have to re-engineer a special IOS to avoid the normal protections so governments can trivially brute force any phone?