But would the U.S. populace put up with not being able to buy Apple devices at all? That starts sounding like restriction on free trade to the average American which is something they are much more likely to stand against as the government couldn't leverage fear to make the populace go against their own interests.
Stopping the sale of Apple devices and temporarily disabling US iPhones would probably be the singular most socially impacting event in recent history. If you want people to revolt, take their favourite toy away and blame the government.
Would Apple's shareholders put up with Apple not being able to sell into the U.S. market?
We're getting into "kill the company to make a point" territory, which is probably not realistic however we might imagine they do it.
Whatever leverage Apple has over the federal government will come from the millions of citizens who are customers, shareholders, developers, fans, employees, etc. They can activate those people just as well from Cupertino as they can from their own island.
