In spite of a sharp plunge in its fiscal fourth quarter revenue, the $105 million - or 78 cents a share - quarterly loss posted by the Pre smartphone maker Palm Inc, was smaller than the expected loss figures estimated by the analysts.

In its statement reporting the loss, the Sunnyvale-based Palm said that excluding one-time costs, its loss stood at 40 cents a share; as against the estimated average loss figures of 66 cents, by analysts in a Bloomberg poll. As per the year-before figures, Palm's same quarter loss was $43.4 million, or 40 cents a share, which excluding one- time items stood at 22 cents a share.

Palm's quarterly drop in sales to $86.8 million, in the period ended May 31 - just prior to Palm's release of its Pre smartphone - was more than the projected $80.1 million drop in sales by the analysts. Meanwhile, quarterly revenue fell by 71 percent to $86.8 million from $296.2 million a year earlier.

Saying that the recent Palm results include the effects of subscription accounting treatment required by GAPP - generally accepted accounting principles - Palm Chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein said: "The launch of Palm WebOS and Palm Pre was a major milestone in Palm's transformation; we have now officially re-entered the race - the groundwork is laid for a very promising future here at Palm."