RIM plans to hire 3000 in 2009

RIM plans to add about 3,000 new workers in 2009 and increase its workforce to about 15,000. With similar revenue as Nortel, 15,000 is still 10,000 less than the Nortel's number 25,000 (including all the announced layoffs).

Growth is also a key focus at RIM, where the company celebrated the 10th anniversary of the BlackBerry by shipping its 50 millionth smartphone into the market in January, and debuts its new online application store this spring.

The company expects to exceed $10 billion in revenue when reports its fiscal results on April 2, though executives have remained cautious about how much they can expect as consumer spending wavers.

However, smartphones appear to have the upperhand as traditional mobile phones lose their appeal to new phone buyers, partly because they don't have enhanced email and web browsing capabilities.

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