Not only do I think it's not unlikely, I actually think it's pretty much a certainty that Apple has a backdoor in their code. After the slides detailing how easy it is for NSA to break into Apple phones I'd be simply shocked if they hadn't inserted such a vulnerability.
Sounds to me like the author is applying a nice coat of white wash.
After reading a post by a Google engineer on this issue, I'm going to err on the side of believing that Google, Apple, and others aren't actually actively inserting back doors into their code.
By all accounts, these secret court orders often come with gagging clauses - which would likely extend to even gagging one employee from telling another. For all I know the guy next to me could be under a secret court order forcing him to insert backdoors.
Of course, as there's no way to disprove this hypothesis, and there's no proof of it, you can still err any way you like :)
Not only do I think it's not unlikely, I actually think it's pretty much a certainty that Apple has a backdoor in their code. After the slides detailing how easy it is for NSA to break into Apple phones I'd be simply shocked if they hadn't inserted such a vulnerability.
Sounds to me like the author is applying a nice coat of white wash.