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You need permission to access any user data (SMS, calendar, etc).

It is almost impossible to get data from another app if the author doesn't expose it somehow (place it on SD Card, expose Content Providers).

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>>Finally, 3% of all of the Market submissions that have been analyzed could allow an application to send unknown premium SMS messages without the user's interaction or authorization.<<

Could an independent Android developer comment on whether this is in fact true?

I'm not privy to any statistics on the matter, but simply as an Android user I can tell you that Android applications can't dial numbers, send SMS, etc., unless you explicitly grant them permission to do so -- and Android will tell you, plain as day, that the application wants privilege to access "Services that can cost you money".

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