No 'Woz' in Line at Los Gatos Apple Store, But Hundreds Buy New iPad

There was no 'Woz' this time unlike last October when Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak waited in line all night outside the Los Gatos to buy the iPhone 4S.

But there were dozens and dozens of customers who braved the cold and wet weather starting at 6 p.m. Thursday and stood or sat behind a long processional outside the store on North Santa Cruz Avenue for a chance to buy the new iPad, which went on sale at 8 a.m. Friday.

student Melody Rahbar, 17, and dad Moe Rahbar were among some who arrived later, at about 8 a.m., to buy the new gadget. They waited in line for about 45 minutes before purchasing their tablets.

They paid $629 for each and they justified the expenditure saying Melody would need it for college and Moe would use it as a navigational system for his private pilot business.

Melody's favorite feature about the tablet computer is how it can do everything the iPhone 4S does, but on bigger screen. "I like all the differrent useful apps and Netflix is really easy to watch on it. I'll also be able to type any document if I need to for college. It's like a portable computer," she said.

"I'll use it on the airplane," said Moe, when asked why he purchased the iPad. "There's a better picture. It's a mini computer. You can go to the Internet very easily. It's convenient."

Another feature the Iran-native loves about the new device is its faster processor. "They said it's 10 times faster than the iPhone 4S," he said.

The store, 23 No. Santa Cruz Ave., began seeing customers line up to purchase the new gadget beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday.

As of 12 noon, the store still had many iPads available for purchase.