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This set of white notecards features five different designs. Each card measures 4.25 x 6.25 inches, and the front-center of each card has a color Apple logo that is approximately one-half inch wide.
The Apple logos are stylized to appear as though they are partially transparent. The colors resemble the “fruit” iMac G3 colors that were released on January 5, 1999: Blueberry (blue), Grape (purple), Tangerine (orange), Lime (green), and Strawberry (red).
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, part of Apple’s print advertising included magazine inserts. These inserts functioned like “mini-magazines” within magazines. These inserts were glued with a pliable rubber cement that could be easily removed.
This magazine insert shows the iMac DV Special Edition in graphite and the headline “Re-birth announcement.”
When opened, each page folds out into a three-panel spread. Opened, a two-panel spread shows a slot-loading iMac with several paragraphs of text, and opening the fold-out reveals additional information on three panels. Overall, this magazine insert has three, three-panel spreads. The first spread shows iMac features, the second spread discusses media playing and creation capabilities, and the third spread is devoted to the AirPort base station and wireless.
The back page features all six available colors at the time: Tangerine, Strawberry, Blueberry, Grape, Lime, and Graphite.
This insert is stapled and contains three, three-panel spreads. Folded, it measures 10.5 x 7.375 inches.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, part of Apple’s print advertising included magazine inserts. These inserts were “mini-magazines” within magazines. They were glued with a pliable rubber cement that could be easily removed.
This insert is an advertisement for the original blueberry iBook. The cover has no words, just a photo of the lid of the blueberry iBook. Inside, the ad shows an open iBook with a screen that reads, “Say hello to iBook.” and includes a photo of the earth (perhaps to represent the World Wide Web) and various icons and short descriptions of iBook features. The back cover shows the bottom of the iBook.
Interestingly, the actual iBook could not open and lay flat as this advertisement suggests. However, the simplicity of the overall image is very effective since you could open and close the ad just like you would a laptop.
Folded, the size of the insert is 7.875 x 10.5 inches. Unfolded, the insert is 15.75 inches tall.
This thin plastic mousepad made from materials by the company Microthin features the blueberry Apple logo printed in a manner to simulate the translucent plastic Apple used in the iMac line of computers at the time. This mousepad is blue to match the blueberry iMac. Other versions of this design were available in the other five iMac colors: tangerine, lime, strawberry, grape, and graphite.
This mousepad is round and measures 8.5 inches in diameter. It is printed with a MICROTHIN PRODUCTS logo and small text along the bottom curve (in Apple Garamond font): ©1999 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. L04108A
The bottom of the mousepad is covered in printed dots that provide traction to prevent slippage. The stickiness (tackiness) of the material is still viable after about 20 years and can be reactivated by rinsing any accumulated dust with water. However, the entire mousepad is beginning to show signs of yellowing.
Source: No official sources found, additional colors confirmed on eBay
The Apple USB Keyboard was released with the original Bondi blue iMac in 1998. This keyboard used translucent plastics to match the iMac models that shipped with them for the next two years and was available in Bondi blue, blueberry, strawberry, lime, tangerine, grape, and graphite.
The bottom of the keyboard included a support leg that allowed the keyboard to lay flat or tilt up. The keyboard included a full row of half-height function (fn) keys, a keypad, and a dedicated power key in the upper-right corner.
Source: Wikipedia.org
The Apple USB Mouse was first released with the original iMac. The mouse was translucent white and accented in translucent Bondi blue, the same colors as the original iMac. The mouse was round and often referred to as the “hockey puck” mouse. Like previous Apple mouse designs, the USB mouse used a single button and a rubber ball for tracking. However, the rubber ball was two-toned to add design interest by capitalizing on the translucent case.
The mouse has been described as a rare design mistake for Apple because its round shape made it difficult to feel the top of the device, making tracking difficult. Soon after its release, Apple added a dimple in the graphite version of the mouse at the top above the button. The dimple remained on all subsequent versions of the USB Mouse, including this example.
The mouse also had a short cord. Although the cord worked well when plugged into the USB port on a matching iMac keyboard, the cord was too short to use (for right-handed users) with Mac laptops at the time since USB ports were located on the left side.
Early versions of the USB Mouse included a two-toned blue and white trackball (regardless of the color of the mouse). Later versions switched to the more neutral gray and white trackball. Both versions are shown below.
Source: Wikipedia.com
The Apple USB Mouse was first released with the original iMac. The mouse was translucent white and accented in translucent Bondi blue, the same colors as the original iMac. The mouse was round and often referred to as the “hockey puck” mouse. Like previous Apple mouse designs, the USB mouse used a single button and a rubber ball for tracking. However, the rubber ball was two-toned to add design interest by capitalizing on the translucent case.
The mouse has been described as a rare design mistake for Apple because its round shape made it difficult to feel the top of the device, making tracking difficult. Soon after its release, Apple added a dimple in the graphite version of the mouse at the top above the button. The dimple remained on all subsequent versions of the USB Mouse, including this example.
The mouse also had a short cord. Although the cord worked well when plugged into the USB port on a matching iMac keyboard, the cord was too short to use (for right-handed users) with Mac laptops at the time since USB ports were located on the left side.
Source: Wikipedia.com
Following the success of the original iMac, the iBook G3/300 was released as portable Mac for consumers with a radical design. The original iBook was available in blueberry and tangerine, two of the five colors available for iMac at the time. The design is sometimes referred to as the “clamshell.”
The iBook shipped with 32 MB or 64 MB of RAM, a 3.2 GB or 6.0 GB hard drive, and a 12.1-inch TFT active matrix display at 800×600. The case featured a handle on the back that folded out when in use and sprang back into place.
Although portable Mac options were not new at the time with years of PowerBook models that preceded the iBook, Wi-Fi was still not common in 1999. The iBook was available with an optional AirPort wireless networking card. Many consumers who purchased an iBook also likely needed an AirPort Base Station to plug into their modem to set up their first home wireless network.
My first full-time technology director position in a school district is where I first encountered the iBook and AirPort Base Station. The Director of Special Education had purchased an iBook for each Special Education teacher to assist in supporting students with Individualized Educational Plans and deal with the extensive paperwork that is required. Although it is fairly commonplace now for teacher and students to have a technology device assigned to them, in 1999–2000 this practice was considered quite innovative.
This example is a blueberry iBook, complete with an internal AirPort wireless networking card. In my experience, schools in my area tended to purchase the blueberry iBook over the tangerine option.
Source: EveryMac.com
After the original iMac which was available only in “Bondi” blue, a second and third generation of CRT iMac using the same basic design became available in five colors. While the original Bondi blue Mac was a greenish blue and named after a popular Australian surfing beach, the second and third generation were named for fruit colors: lime, strawberry, blueberry, grape, and tangerine. Although the colors were named for fruits, the shades were arguably unfruitlike. Like the original iMac, the case was translucent, rather than completely transparent.
This blueberry iMac example is a G3/333MHz model very similar to the 266 MHz “Revision B” iMac that preceded it in the same year (1999). This iMac G3/333 had a larger hard drive and lacked the “Mezzanine” port.
Also note that this iteration of iMac included a matching Apple USB Keyboard (M2452) and Apple USB Mouse (M4848). The mouse was often criticized for its circular, “hockey puck” shape with critics claiming it was difficult to locate the top button since the shape was a circle. In this revision, Apple added a dimple to the top of the mouse to help address this issue.
Source: EveryMac.com
