At first, I thought this iPad case would be the complete opposite of useful. It looked like it would block out about half of the touchscreen and then you would presumably load some sort of app to simulate the old Mac operating system. And then, I realized I was wrong. The “Mac” part of this Padintosh case is really for the back of the iPad and not the front. This way, when you decide to hold up your iPad to take a picture of Bill and Melinda Gates in London, they can stare right into the faux Mac screen that reads “hello.”

Go ahead and “party like it’s 1984″ with the Padintosh Case. It’s available now through Thinkgeek for a fairly reasonably $24.99. Since it’s only the back part of the case, you can still use your Smart Cover for the front. If only they made a 1984 style Smart Cover to match…

[Source]

The post Padintosh Case Brings your iPad back to 1984 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

In his interview with Ad Age, McKenna says that people “want attention, but it often hurts startup companies because it sets high expectations.” He also says that getting a good ad doesn’t ensure the future success of a business. Indeed, he “learned in the 70s that the ads won all the awards, but the company went bankrupt.”

And that’s almost what happened to Apple. The “1984″ ad got all sorts of attention and it turned the gaze toward the Mac, but Apple “went into 10 years of decline after that.” McKenna goes on to say that the “ad was more successful than the Mac itself. The Mac was expensive to build, and Apple’s margins went negative in 1986. That conflict led to Steve’s ouster from Apple.” McKenna also says that Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs “was very negative on Steve” and that we shouldn’t believe everything that we read in it.

Here is the original commercial, in case you want a quick refresher.

The post Regis McKenna: 1984 Apple Ad “More Successful Than the Mac Itself.” appeared first on Mobile Magazine.