Long Fingernails and iPhones

An article about women angered that the iPhone cannot be used with long fingernails has gotten a lot of press yesterday (though the article was first published last month in the LA Times. I find the picture posted with the article to be misleading; with fingernails at the length of the ones shown in the picture, the iPhone is perfectly usable as long as you make sure to put your flesh flat against the iPhone. With fingernails at that length, I find that I have to type in a similar fashion, where you flatten your knuckles and type flat-fingered. With fingernails that are long enough to curl around however, it is true that the iPhone does not work in the same way.

I have seen many secretaries with beautifully manicured fingernails that curl around. I am always amazed that they can type with their nails, but they can. Nails that long are a lot stronger and can push down the keys. The iPhone however, "responds to the electrical charge emitted by fingertips" and therefore will not respond to the chitin of fingernails even if they are strong enough to hit the surface consistently. When I heard this story talked about on Elliott in the Morning, one woman stated that with fingernails like these, the side of the finger can be used. A third-party stylus for the iPhone does exist, complete with clip, but Apple itself does not provide one.

What seems to be more surprising are the reactions to the supposed women who are complaining about this problem. While I would've expected people to complain about other people complaining (seems to always happen), I didn't expect so many people automatically stereotyping these women by referring to them as "bimbos." While I generally keep my nails shorter for playing piano and playing ultimate (it does also make it easier to type... my "N" key always seems to get scratched up somehow with the way I type), I do enjoy keeping longer manicured nails either in the off-season or in preparation of a formal event. I personally have not faced any problems with using the iPhone while my nails have been long. These women seem to feel that an injustice has been done to them since they feel like they weren't considered at all as a demographic for the iPhone, but I think a greater injustice has been done with the stereotyping of women who care about personal beauty as well as technology.