San Francisco  - Under continued pressure from Apple's iPhone and the RIM Blackberry, Palm Inc reported wider than expected losses and lower revenue late Thurdsay.

The smartphone pioneer lost 43.4 million dollars, compared with a profit of 15.4 million dollars in the the year earlier quarter, marking its fourth straight loss. Revenue fell 26 per cent to 296.2 million dollars from 401.3 million dollars last year.

Analysts said that strong sales of the company's low-end Centro smart phone failed to compensate for weak sales of the Palm Treo, which had lost sales to the Blackberry and iPhone competitors.

The Centro costs 99 dollars with a carrier contract, about half the price of the Treo.

Though the company is preparing to announce new Treos, the relatively low cost of the newest, 199-dollar iPhone will force Palm prices down in the future.

The company has already slashed jobs and closed stores to cut costs. Palm recently sold a 25-per-cent stake to private equity company Elevation Partners. (dpa)sa