Very interested thread, too bad people have not been updating the subject line.
[Apple], as with every other company in this capitalist environment, is primarily concerned with making money for their shareholders.
Indeed, CEOs have been sued for neglecting fiduciary responsibilities. One responsibility of government is to mitigate conflict between often brutal economic free-market forces and societies obligations to its citizens who are economically disadvantaged. This is why we have ADA and the Rehabilitation Act, and, circling back to Apple and the iPhone and OS X, Section 255 and 508.
The reason they haven't done much with respect to accessibility till now is because section 508 of the ADA and perhaps other laws as well (legalese details here) have forced their hand.
Section 508 of the ADA is about transsexuals not being PWDs. That aside, there is no evidence whatsoever for this particular bit of slander, it is all hearsay. Try and find a credible citation. You might as well argue that the invisible pink unicorn gave Steve Job a decree. Believe what you want, but repeating such things says more about you than Apple. Secondly, this accusation is false on its face as the 508 provisions say nothing about the OS providing a screen reader: http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.21.htm
In fact, the only reason windows as is accessible as we find it today is because the government threatened to cease all dealings with Microsoft circa 1995 until they addressed the accessibility concerns relating to Win95.
If by "the government" you mean the State of Massachusetts, and by Win95 you mean Windows 3.1, then yes, that story is true. One can only wish that the Feds would take accessibility so seriously. Here is the best write up I have found: http://blogs.sun.com/korn/date/20051113#Massachusetts_Accessibility_Background
