We previously reported that some ATP competitive protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors are either competitive or uncompetitive inhibitors with respect to substrate peptides. In this report, we demonstrate how the interactions between PKC and inhibitors change PKC activation kinetics. A substrate competitive inhibitor, bisindolylmaleimide I, targets activated PKC and stabilizes PKC in the activated conformation. This leads to transient activation and prolonged deactivation of PKC in the presence of bisindolylmaleimide I. In contrast, an uncompetitive substrate inhibitor, bisindolylmaleimide IV, targets quiescent PKC and stabilizes PKC in the quiescent conformation, which generates slower activation and suppressed translocation upon activation of PKC.