The Chicago Tribune has confirmed that Motorola is indeed letting a significant number of its employees go.

motorola changes up executive team

As far as their mobile phone division is concerned, around 3000 employees are getting the axe and it'll happen throughout the course of the year. Add that number to the other 1000 job cuts that will also be implemented in other divisions, the 3000 layoffs announced last year, and the total number of workers that will be laid off by Motorola when 2009 comes to a close will reach the 7000 mark. That’s certainly not good news to hear especially at the start of a new year.

The other rumor concerning Windows Mobile being dumped is yet to be confirmed, but Motorola has an earnings report on February 3rd which might tell us more about Motorola's plans for its ailing mobile phone biz.

[source]