Dell and Lenovo exchange ad misrepresentation barbs

PC manufacturers never let a moment pass up where they can seemingly one-up the competition by using meaningless marketing claims. The "World's Fastest" and "World's Most Secure" taglines are so hokey that it's amazing we all don't buy PCs at the local flea market. So, when Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) recently said that it made the "World's Most Secure Notebooks." Chinese competitor Lenovo had a problem with that. What exactly does that claim mean, anyway?

This isn't the first time for a meaningless claim to be used in PC land. Sure, one of Dell's systems may be the "World Most Secure" in a certain environment with a certain arrangement of software, but to use that implied moniker to describe your entire product line is ridiculous. Apparently, consumers and business decision makers believe these pitches of manufacturers. The funny thing is that it makes sense for all PC manufacturers to use illegitimate claims. Why? Because the PC industry is a commodity one. What else is there to differentiate products?

No matter how much PC company CEOs harp on "we're better at this, we're better at that," it doesn't matter. Almost all PCs are like a gallon of milk; you choose one and you move on. Service options after the sale are the differentiators, not the hardware that was most likely made by one of a handful of Asian contract manufacturers anyway. Even the high-and-mighty Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been accused of using claims that sound too good to be true, such as "the world's fastest, most powerful personal computer" -- to which Dell promptly complained.