Apple's FBI row is only just beginning

You could forgive Apple's legal team for coming across a little exasperated on Monday evening.

Just hours before its day in court - in the town of Riverside, California - the most unexpected twist yet: the trial had been postponed, perhaps indefinitely.

Tim Cook launched a new iPhone on Monday - but that news was overshadowed

The FBI said it had, "this past weekend", been shown a way to unlock the iPhone used by San Bernardino gunman Rizwan Farook. The FBI has until 5 April to let the court know how it gets on. If the method doesn't work, and the phone is still locked, we'll probably return to Riverside for the hearing.

James Comey had said the FBI needed Apple to help it gain access to the iPhone

If it is successful - then, well, who knows what will happen? Uncharted waters. The case, already the most fascinating tech legal tussle for years, enters murky territory.


And here's why. Let's say, for arguments sake, that the FBI does indeed have a new, credible method of getting into the iPhone.

Where on Earth did it come from?

Exhausted avenues

Apple's bewilderment is understandable given that, right up until the final hour, the FBI had insisted it had exhausted every possible route. It told Congress as much.

In a hearing earlier this month, FBI director James Comey stood firm as Congressman Darrell Issa gave him a dramatic dressing down for not pursuing a technique known as mirroring - essentially, and I'm simplifying here, duplicating the phone so repeated attempts can be made to unlock it without disturbing the original.