In the end this is not about an information security solution (which is measured by the weakest link). This is about engineering consumer expectations. Privacy and security must be measured in terms of the overall digital-economic ecosystem. Systems at the margins of everyday consumer experience will determine how absolutely secure any computation can be. Consider the baseband processor in each iphone.
I think companies like apple and google are undertaking PR exercises like this in the hopes of finding that sweet-spot between the sense of crisis (excitement?) that smart phone ownership brings and the banal integration of technology into everyday life. There _are_ government requests, but they do not affect _you_. maybe. So my question: Is government surveillance now officially part of the iPhone experience?
To the extent that a debate exists, apple is engaging and steering that discussion. This is just pure organizational reflex. And it's cynical in some sense, but apple doesn't really have a choice in the matter either. Ultimately it is what the US officials consider to be an acceptable level of visible surveillance, which is a political consideration.