The hubris of the little lie

I was driving to a conference Thursday when I heard a radio ad that proclaims YAAT (Yet Another Android Tablet), the Toshiba Thrive, as being the “most usable” tablet ever.

Meanwhile, for several months we have been hearing: “Amateur hour is over” and “Introducing the world’s first professional-grade tablet” from Research in Motion.

RIM shipped 500,000 units in its first fiscal quarter ending May 28. By comparison, Apple shipped 4.7 million iPad 2 models in the quarter ended March 26, which was a bad quarter for Apple.

So why is it that the makers of the 2nd tier tablets assume that customers will believe the inflated claims of their products? Didn’t anyone think such exaggerations would undercut what little credibility they had? Or are these coming from such overconfident companies that they don’t recognize a lie when they see it?

Goebbels used to brag about the effectiveness of the “Big Lie,” but that assumed that people didn’t have access to other forms of information. Somehow I don’t see that happening for 2nd tier tablet makers.

Photo (June 12, 2011): Research in Motion demonstration trailer is ignored at Del Mar Fairgrounds, despite being astride a major foot traffic corridor.