PalmSource saw its loss narrow a little during its fourth fiscal quarter on the back on a comparably small rise in quarterly revenues.

The Palm OS developer reported Q4 2004 revenues of $17.7m, up from $17.3m in the year-ago quarter when it was still part of Palm. It lost $2.9m (23 cents a share) during the quarter, down from the $3.4m (34 cents a share) it lost this time last year.

For the year as a whole, PalmSource yielded revenues of $73.1m. (FY 2003: $73.4m). Despite the slight year-on-year dip, PalmSource narrowed its annual loss from $21.8m ($2.18 a share) to $15.2m ($1.40).

On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the cost of the split from PalmOne, among other things, PalmSource saw FY 2004 income of $1.2m (17 cents a share) and a quarterly loss of $600,000 ($0.05). In Q4, PalmSource made $58.7m from the sale of 3.45m shares.

Palm OS licensees shipped 1.4 million devices during Q4, 78 per cent of which were handheld devices, 18 per cent were smart phones and four per cent were other devices. During Q4 2003, some 1.5 million Palm-powered handhelds shipped, a decline that's likely to continue going forward, not least because of Palm OS licensee Sony's decision to abandon the PDA market.

PalmSource expects Q1 2005 to yield revenues of between $17.1m and $18.9m - a small gain on Q4's total. Losses will narrow to between $2m (14 cents a share) and break-even. ®

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