The difference isn't that you couldn't unlock (or, actually, just weaken) each device. It's that with Apple presumably in control of their signing key, they wou

The difference isn't that you couldn't unlock (or, actually, just weaken) each device. It's that with Apple presumably in control of their signing key, they would need to get Apple's assistance any time they wanted to unlock a specific device. The obvious benefit would be that the tool can't be used indiscriminately - presumably they would need to be presented with a legal order. This, then, seems to be an attempt to get ahead of the game. They have the benefit of being able to acknowledge having received a request and use that request as an opportunity to give their objection to weakening users' security. This would not be the case if instead they had been presented with a National Security Letter (as may have been the case in some of the instances suggested by the article).