If you read the link that you've posted, that was not about handing data over. They were already doing that. They didn't want to automate the process. They used the dispute as a pr campaign which you have faithfully repeated.
When it's a public request, and the people involved are already dead, there can be this kind of public spectacle. Apple was part of PRISM as per Snowden's leaks, and as cited in the wiki page, Snowden further claims regarding this specific case that the FBI was already perfectly capable of decrypting the device.
