RIM and IBM hope the collaborations made possible though use of Lotus software on BlackBerry smartphones will flourish with a portfolio of new networking options becoming available. The idea is that your BlackBerry connects you with the corporate activities you would normally access through your company computer.

Coming later this year, you'll be able to use your BlackBerry to get into Open Document Format Lotus Symphony files. Presentation and spreadsheet access is also coming, along with better functionality for Lotus Connections. Social networking, blogging, and access to other on-line communities will also be incorporated.

If you're an employee tethered to your colleagues via these Lotus applications, 2009 could be the year you all break free.

If you are a mid-sized employer making decisions about corporate software purchases, you may want to consider the mobile computing options offered by the different products you're looking at. A global workforce stitched together via smartphones could mean a significantly smaller capital investment than you might have previously calculated, when desktops and smartphones for all may have seemed inevitable.