John Gruber on Apple’s refusal to comply with the FBI’s demands to help them break iPhone encryption:

By fighting this, Apple is doing something risky and difficult. It would be easier, and far less risky, if they just quietly complied with the FBI. That’s what makes their very public stance on this so commendable.

Doing the right thing can be hard, but it’s also how reputations are earned and maintained.

Make sure to read Tim Cook’s public response on Apple’s website. Note also that it’s entitled a “A Message to Our Customers” and not A Message to Our Shareholders, which matches up completely with Horace Dediu’s theory of Apple as a firm and who Tim Cook & Co. are striving to please which might go a long way in explaining the lack of support from Microsoft and Google.