Or Apple could offer to pay the fine for an iPhone owner and/or sell fine insurance. Great PR, uses a little of their cash. How are the phone owners going to be caught anyway?
The fine would be on the sellers, not the buyers.
They'll just alter the contracts on phones sold in NY: "You agree to not encrypt any data on this phone and will indemnify COMPANY in court"
They'll probably still be liable. I'm not sure it is something the consumer can indemnify them of.