The post reads a bit like an abuse victim. "Well, I mean, sure, they've done some bad and difficult things, but sometimes they're really nice!", combined with making excuses.
Remember the $200 price drop after all their rabid fans waited all day in line for a $600 phone? Remember how it was followed by the $100 gift certificate? [1]
I think it's been clear for awhile that the Apple marketing department takes tips from abuse victim psychology 101.
"So you can whine and cry about the process in general, but for the volume of submissions that they have, taking that little bit of time to reach out means a lot."
