Because the author had Steve Jobs on the phone and was able to speak the issue directly to Steve's ear. It's not that complicated. An automated response doesn'

Because the author had Steve Jobs on the phone and was able to speak the issue directly to Steve's ear. It's not that complicated. An automated response doesn't tell me that my emails haven't gone straight to /dev/null. If I'm talking to Steve, and he responds to the sentences that I'm speaking to him, then I am confident that the issue has been "heard". (Promptly ignored, perhaps, but not just black-hole'd).