44 mln Americans could have been victims of ID theft, a survey by Deloitte & Touche LLP and the Center for Social and Legal Research says. 87% of respondents said they’ve read or heard about consumer data being stolen or disclosed in error. 64% of respondents have decided against making a purchase because they weren’t sure how their personal information would be used, and 67% decided not to register at a Web site or shop online because the privacy policy was unclear. 70% of respondents agree that consumers have lost all control over how personal information is collected and used, and 59% said existing laws and company practices fail to provide a reasonable level of protection.

About 60% of wireless carrier sales come through direct channels, 40% through indirect channels, reports In-Stat. While carriers prefer sales through their own direct channels because Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is higher and subscriber acquisition costs are slightly lower, they continue to grow the number of both direct and indirect retail outlets to increase their market reach, the high-tech market research firm says. 25% of sales are made through kiosks today. In-Stat report is based on 55 surveys with US wireless service providers and 105 with firms in their distribution channels.

Most wireless carriers break even on CDMA and GSM handsets. Carriers make somewhat of a profit on GSM/GPRS, GSM/EDGE, W-CDMA (UMTS), CDMA 1xRTT EVDO and iDEN handsets, and lose money on TDMA handsets. There is a nascent trend toward exclusivity, where distribution channels agree to sell one wireless provider’s service. Exclusive distributors typically receive higher compensation and more help with promotions from the carrier.

Chinese foundries would increase their sales by 7.8% to $2.49 bln in 2005, iSuppli says. In 2004, the revenues grew 110% to $2.31 bln.

According to IDC, Nordic human resources management services spending will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10%?11.5% through 2009. The Nordic market reached a value of 260 mln euros in 2004.

With an average reliability of 99.5%, the brokerage industry’s Web site service levels far exceed other industries, Keynote found. 83% of prospective online investors reported commissions and fees as an important consideration, and 82% reported speed and reliability of trade execution as a key consideration. The selection of available products and services was a consideration for 60%, and investment advice and planning tools were considered by 56%.

500 processing companies will handle 44 bln transactions in the United States in 2005, New York Times says.

Тhe various categories of Digital Video Headends, and their Gigabit Ethernet components, are on a fast growth track and are expected to surge past $2.6 bln by 2009, reports In-Stat. Compared with indicators from other telecom segments, this segment’s projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is 32.3% through 2009.

ForeSee Results and FGI Research asked online shoppers about their user experiences at popular online shopping locations.

New York Times reports on research of online dating scene by three economists from University of Chicago and MIT. Only 1% of the population admitting to having “less than average” looks. Only a third posted a photo. The reported weights of the women were substantially less than national averages and about 30% were blonde. The reported weights of the men were consistent with national averages and only about 12% were blond. Those men reporting incomes in excess of $250,000 received 156% more e-mail messages than those with incomes below $50,000.

56% of enterprises using wireless LANS they installed themselves, Forrester Research says. 47% of companies said they are evaluating or piloting technology to integrate cellular and Wi-Fi networks to increase employee productivity and reduce costs and complexity.

In June 2005 Google maintained the leading position in terms of generatic traffic to other Web sites, WebSideStory found. 52.23% of all referrals came from Google, 25.21% from Yahoo! and 10.37% from MSN. Google refers more than 91% of all traffic in Germany, 41.86% of traffic in Japan, 73.61% in the United Kingdom and 80.76% in Australia.

US economy grew 3.8% in Q1 2005, Department of Commerce reported. Prices (excluding food and energy) were up 2% for the quarter.

The worldwide hard disk drive (HDD) industry will experience sustained unit and revenue growth through 2009, with particularly strong expansion of the consumer electronics (CE) and external drive/home storage segments, IDC says. Worldwide HDD unit shipments and revenue will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.5% and 10.1% respectively from 2004 to 2009. Worldwide CE HDD unit shipments will experience the fastest growth rate with a 37.4% CAGR over the same period.

Reuters quotes some interesting statistics on the fuel cells in automotive industry. The proponents of fuel cells have the most optimistic forecasts: 5-10 mln cars running on hydrogen-fed fuel cells could be on the road within 15 years, with the number ballooning to 350 mln by 2050. DaimlerChrysler currently has 100 vehicles on fuel cells and the most optimistic forecast is 100K cars by 2015. GM aims by 2010 to have fuel cell cars run for 5,500 hours, and cost $50 per kilowatt of power versus $30-$70 now for conventional combustion engines. Linde AG sponsored a study that found it would cost just 3.5 bln euros ($4.24 bln) over 15 years to build 2,800 hydrogen filling stations across Europe in urban areas and along motorways.

The average rate for UK developers, analysts, project managers and UNIX specialists, has risen to 27.60 pounds per hour ($49.87) in June 2005, up from 27.01 pounds in May 2005, which in itself was a climb from the 26.81 pounds of April 2005. The current figure is the highest in 2005, surpassing the 27.56 set in January 2005. Java fell from 34.25 to 32.96 pounds, C++ dropped from 33.92 to 33.08 pounds and C# went from 33.27 to 32.80 pounds. Given the rates for Java and C++ in January, (35.70 and 38.40 pounds respectively) these falls mark a significant six month drop off: 8% in the case of Java, and 14% for C++. The C# rate over the same period has actually risen slightly, despite this month’s drop, from 32.30 pounds in January, a rise of 2%.

More than 60% of mobile users aged 16 to 24 in select Western European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) have an Internet-capable mobile phone, but only 18% of them actually use mobile Internet services. Forrester Research sees the same lack of interest when it comes to mobile phone features. While features like polyphonic ring tones, mobile Internet capability, color screens, and the ability to download games are most widespread at the moment, a high 63% of mobile users say they don’t need a sophisticated phone; they just need it for voice calling and messaging.

Europe’s mobile phone penetration has plateaued at around 80%. The UK and Italy have reached saturation levels, while France still has some room for growth, it currently has just 69% penetration. Mobile phone brand ownership displayed minor changes from the past two years, but Nokia is still in the lead, ahead of Siemens and Motorola. Nearly 60% of mobile accounts are prepay. Some 70% of mobile users use SMS as a way to communicate, but the popularity of MMS/picture messaging doesn’t come close: A low 14% of Europe’s mobile users have adopted this service. Other favorite services are mobile gaming and buying ring tones, via both SMS and the PC-based Internet. Nearly 17 mln users across Europe already access the mobile Internet, about 9% of all mobile users. The UK leads in adoption, with 15% of mobile users browsing the Net from their phones.

Financial Insights predicts that between 2004 and 2009 IT spending by European banks will grow at 4.8% CAGR. With CEOs under pressure to discover new ways to increase their profitability, CIOs are under the spotlight. In banking, technology is the foundation for every new initiative, and CIOs need to respond faster and more efficiently to new requirements. Solving this dilemma is the challenge for CIOs as well as for IT vendors that can exploit this opportunity to really show the value of IT in the banking environment.

21% of respondents to a JupiterResearch survey, who used video-on-demand, said they were interested in renting movies via the Web, compared to 13% of all online consumers. 39% of VOD buyers reported interest in watching movies on the Web, compared to 28% of moviegoers and 26% of in-store video renters.