Reporting its fiscal first-quarter results, the Sunnyvale, California-based Pre maker Palm Inc posted a loss of $164.5 million, or $1.17 a share – thereby marking its ninth consecutive quarterly loss. The loss figures for the same quarter last year stood at $41.9 million or 39 cents a share. 

Though the adjusted results for the quarter beat the Wall Street forecast, largely because of Palm’s better-than-expected shipment of its new Pre devices during the quarter ended August 28, the company’s outlook for the second-quarter sales remained somewhat disappointing.

That Palm has been struggling to regain its foothold in the market - after being bogged down for the last few years by competition from rival like Apple and Research In Motion – is evident from its sales for the mentioned quarter, which plunged more than 80 percent. 

The quarterly revenue of the company fell to $68 million from the year-before figures of $366.9 million, largely due to its deferred revenue from the Pre to later periods.

Nonetheless, referring to Palm’s June launch of the Pre and its scheduled a holiday-season launch of a lighter, more economical handset called the Pixi, Jon Rubinstein, Palm Chairman and CEO, stated: “We're making significant progress with Palm's transformation, and our culture of innovation is stronger than ever. We're launching more great Palm WebOS products with more carriers, and turning our sights toward growth.”