BlackBerry reported a steep drop in profit and revenue as the company struggles to transition itself from a smartphone company to a software business.

The Canadian company said it lost $423 million, or 80 cents per share, on revenue of $976 million, down from $2.7 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter last year. Analysts expected a loss of 56 cents per share on revenue of $1.1 billion.

It's the first time the company has reported less than $1 billion in revenue since late in 2007.

It is the second quarterly result under CEO John Chen, who is de-emphasizing the hardware business after last year's launch of the BlackBerry 10 failed to spark a turnaround. The BlackBerry has been hammered by competition from the iPhone as well as Android-based rivals.