No, it wasn't. The FBI was seeking a third party to unlock the iPhone 5c from February until June. Many companies were working on hacks to do it and in June one came forward with a solution. That was NOT quickly.
Apple had no problem with the Feds catching terrorists. There were other, far more important Constitutional and Federal Law issues in play.
Apple refused to unlock the iPhone 5c because it had no duty to do so and because the All Writs court order was expanding the governments power FAR BEYOND what the power of the courts had been allowed to go. It was not a search warrant at all (Apple had complied with all proper search warrants presented and provided every bit of evidence they had in their possession) but rather an order to essentially sabotage their own business model. . . and to do work that would create a backdoor into their own proprietary operating system and hand it over to the Government for its use. There is NOTHING in the law that allows the government or courts to compel such a thing. On fact a 1995 Federal Law absolutely PROHIBITED IT. That is why Apple refused.
I've heard that line from Apple, but it doesn't pass the smell test with me. They could have unlocked that one phone for the Feds in order to help catch the terrorist's co-conspirators... and they could have done it without a court order. That would have been the patriotic thing to do given the extreme circumstances.
So... the Feds finally got someone else to unlock it for them.