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The same type of measurements hold true for computer screens, but there it's called Screen Resolution. Most home systems, most laptops, and many office systems (especially those costing less than $2,000) come with 14 inch monitors set to 640 x 480 resolution. That's 640 dots (or in this case, pixels) wide, and 480 dots high to make a full screen.
Those who spend all day working with fine detail often spend the extra money to get a 17 inch monitor and an 800 x 600 resolution screen--or even higher. At 800x600, you can get almost twice as much detail on the screen as you can at 640x480. In fact, you can get so many dots of detail all crammed together that it's very difficult to read on a 14" monitor, which is why you so often see people increase both the resolution and the screen size. They want more dots in order to get more detail on one screen--but they want that one screen to be bigger, so they can make out each dot more clearly.
Marketing managers need to be aware of who the audience is, and what kind of systems they are likely to have. If their computers are more than 6 months old, or if they are using laptops, or if they spent less than $2,500 on their systems, they are quite likely to have 14 inch monitors which work best in 640 x 480 mode.
On the other hand, Website designers and technical people, who spend all day staring at fine detail on a computer screen, probably have at least 800x600, and may have even higher resolutions.
A designer may have a hard time believing that anyone "still" uses 640x480, but it remains the most common mode, and that's true in both commercial and consumer markets. Designing for that size will mean that everyone you want to reach will be able to see and understand your Website. Designing for 800x600 may mean that a significant portion have to use arrow keys to scroll sideways and try and figure out what your site says.