ONLINE TAX SCRAMBLE BEGINSWith the Internal Revenue Service’s April 15 deadline nigh, traffic for tax-related Web sites has spiked. According to analyst comScore Media Metrix, three of the 10 U.S. Web sites registering the biggest traffic increases in February were tax sites. Online tax preparation service TaxAct Online saw the fourth-largest jump in traffic among all U.S. Internet properties last month, with an 88 percent increase. The IRS Web site, IRS.gov, had the seventh-highest growth with 63 percent, from 10.5 million unique visitors in January to more than 17 million in February. The Web site of financial consultant service H&R Block registered 52 percent more visitors, rising from 3.8 million in January to nearly 5.9 million in February. While the IRS rarely wins popularity contests, it does get bragging rights this time of year: IRS.gov also made the largest leap on comScore’s Top 50 U.S. Internet Properties rankings, moving up 34 spots to land in nineteenth place. SOURCE: comScore Media Metrix

RUSSIA'S GREEN REVOLUTIONForeign investors are heading to Russia in record numbers, doling out nearly $28 billion last year in loans, capital investments, and foreign direct investments (FDI). That’s $14 billion more than in 2002, a 50 percent hike, according to a report by financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Most of the investments were loans, which totaled $22 billion. FDI inflows, or investments in physical assets made from abroad, jumped 69 percent to $6.8 billion, but Russian entrepreneurs were still left looking for more: portfolio investments fell 15 percent to $401 million. Cyprus was the most active foreign direct investor, with $5 billion, or 19 percent of FDI inflows, followed by the U.S. with $4.2 billion, or 17 percent. Germany provided 18 percent, or $10 billion, of Russia’s foreign capital, and Cyprus dished out $8 billion, 14 percent.SOURCE: PricewaterhouseCoopers

CELLULAR HANDSETS – OFF THE HOOKAfter a slow start in 2003, the global market for cellular handsets finished the year out strongly, with nearly 481 million units shipped during the year, according to research firm Ovum. The 17 percent increase in shipments over 2002 was due in large part to less developed markets like India and China, which combined accounted for 40 percent of 2003's growth. The bigger the market, the sleeker the phones: smart phones, which have voice-plus-data capabilities and an operating system, are expected to grow from 18 percent of the overall handset market in 2003 to 31 percent this year. All those extra features will rake in even more money for providers, who made $414 billion worldwide last year, 10 percent of which came from short message service (SMS) and data charges. While average revenue per user is expected to fall at least until 2008, Ovum estimates that global revenues will increase 13 percent in 2004, reaching $468 billion.SOURCE: Ovum