Palm has reported a drop in its revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009. It posted revenue of $86.8m, a 71% drop over the year ago quarter.

The firm posted a net loss applicable to common shareholders of $105m, or $0.78 per diluted common share, in the fiscal fourth-quarter ended May 29, compared to a loss of $43.4m, or $0.40 per diluted common share, in the year-ago period.

The company said it shipped a total of 351,000 smartphone units during the quarter, down 62% from the year-over-year.

For the full year, Palm posted a net loss of $735.5m or $6.51 per share, compared with a net loss of $110.9m, or $1.05 per share, for the previous year. Revenue fell 44% to $735.9m.

Nevertheless, Palm Pre, a new smartphone went on sale after the quarter ended; its impact is expected to reflect in the current quarter.

Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer of Palm, 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.

“There is a large group of developers waiting to build great applications for Palm webOS; and we have a new product pipeline that we think will set a standard for the industry.”