That’s what we’re pondering this morning after the New York Times swept in to confirm an old-ish story circulating online that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been answering occasional customer queries on the sly. Ironically, Jobs didn’t respond to a NYT email asking him to comment on his commenting.

Jobs of course cannot respond, let alone read, all the customer complaints, queries and conundrums sent to Apple each day. But when he does respond, it creates a breathless response from gadget heads and Apple watchers, strange to me as I find Apple’s customer behavior (from here in Italy, anyhow) to be uncaring and slacker-like. But then Jobs himself never responded to me. On the other end of the touched-by-God spectrum is John Devor, The Times reports:

John Devor printed out his personal Jobsian missive and taped it to the wall of his dorm room at the University of Virginia. The 23-year-old entrepreneur had written Mr. Jobs to praise him, but also to complain about how Apple’s lawyers were demanding that he change the name of his music-copying program, iPodRip.

“Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal. Steve,” Mr. Jobs wrote.

“I was stunned. I think I was shaking,” Mr. Devor recalled of the moment the e-mail message appeared in his in-box. A few weeks later, he reflected more calmly about the reply. “I kind of pictured him writing that while he was going to the bathroom or something,” Mr. Devor said.

What is so nutty about this story is not just the giddy reaction to a Jobs email, as rare as they are, but that he’s choosing to communicate via email at all. Why not Tweet? Why not give finally give the public an insight into what you’re thinking, planning, admiring or just reading? Apple’s notoriously secretive management culture and its defiantly anti-social approach to customer outreach is so incongruous in an age where customer input is so valued.

Recently, we reported it dusted off its long-neglected YouTube channel to promote the iPad. We wondered if this was an ominous sign, that the buzz around the iPad needed a little extra oomph. Perhaps we were being too cynical. Maybe it’s a sign Apple is finally make the company a bit more open, a bit more responsive, a bit more social.