THE LINE TO GET IN to the new Apple Store in Bellevue Square on its opening day this past Saturday was pleasant and intelligent. Macheads from all over the greater Puget Sound country lingered for as long as two hours to get the chance to buy their hardware and software factory-direct, to temporarily enter the source of theie beloved computing platform.

It was a gathering of the tribe, sharing lively conversation augmented by opened iBooks and PowerBooks. (The store has a free-access WiFi transmitter, also receivable from the nearby Nordstrom espresso stand.)

Inside the brightly lit, cleanly appointed store: Your basic hardware selection of laptops, desktops, monitors, MP3 players, printers, digital still and video cameras, etc.; two big wall displays of software boxes; a customer-service desk pop-pretentiously christened “The Genius Bar;” and big billboards promoting Apple’s new paid music-download service.

The Apple Store doesn’t have anything, with the possible exception of a few third-party software titles, you can’t get for the same price or less at The Computer Store, CompUSA, or other outlets, or online. No, the appeal of the Apple Store is the opportunity to immerse oneself in the brand, to experience Apple Computer as a tangible real-world thang and not just a presence inside the screen.

GOT BACK TO SEATTLE in time to see the last of the Maritime Festival and tugboat races on the waterfront.