Lies, damned lies...

The giant AOL-Time Warner merger cost $US965 million ($2.3 billion) in the first quarter alone, says the company's SEC filings. Of this, $US565 million was for employee terminations.

* The average price of computers in the US dropped 22 per cent from October last year to this March. Dell has cut its prices by over 30 per cent, giving it the leading market share, and there's no sign of an end to the US price war. The company will retrench up to 4000 workers - 10 per cent of its workforce - over the next 6 months.

* WAP Drop: a survey last year predicted that nearly a third of cellphone users in the EU, Japan and other countries planned to buy via their mobiles. Six months later, the figure has dropped to 12 per cent. In the US, reality set in harder than elsewhere - the figure went from 34 to 3 per cent. Ouch!

* Traditional telemarketing costs from $1 to $3 for each contact and direct mail costs 75c to $2 for each letter, but the average cost for each e-mail message is only 1c. Internet banner ads get 3 clicks for every 1000 impressions, while e-mails generate 3 clicks for every 100 messages. As a result, marketers will spend $US2.1 billion on e-mail campaigns this year, says eMarketer.