The reported information on it is very scarce as to how they did it, it has in effect been classified it which means that we may never find out and is similar legal tool like the All Writs Act that was used by the FBI to push forward a demand for access in the earlier stages rather than resolve the paradox raised of how far the government can go in privacy and citizen rights and protection.
To some degree it has continued to reinforce the cyber war that is going on in all sides seeking to find ways to break secure systems, something that is no different to any other arms race for power.
The evidence is that cyber threats are a growing issue that was a core part of the Apple case for not opening up the phone and giving way to potentially more weaknesses. Industry cyber threat reports say this is growing at 66% annually in the PWC annual global state of information security survey 2015 , in financial theft this is over 90% annual growth.
The issue now is whether this has resolved anything other than created a scenario where , "if we can get round your defense then that is ok" appears to be what we now have again. The caveat is that this is for legal purposed to obtain data for anti-terrorism purposes. Companies will need to continue to address cyber security at a top priority as we live 24/7 and be able to keep most of what is normal privacy away from criminal activity.
The deeper question "is our data safe and private?" the former may be the case but our privacy seems to be increasingly harder to hold on to in the digital age and is something I forecast will become a bigger issue for all citizens as they try to control and value their privacy better. I see the FBI versus Apple case created a possible higher sense of the need for control over personal data and a rise in personal data systems will become ever more critical in the fight to regain access and control to your data whether for public or private means.