Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Mike Weinstein from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Mike Weinstein - JPMorgan
Thank you and good afternoon guys.
Dr. Fred Moll
Hi Mike.
Steve Van Dick
Hi Mike.
Mike Weinstein - JPMorgan
Hi there. So, first off, one is Steve's comment that you're reiterating the guidance of 44 to 50 placements for the year. Can you maybe just -- with one quarter under your belt and the updates that we got from Gary on manufacturing, can you give us a sense of how the demand side of the equation looks? You guys don't report a backlog, obviously, but can you give us a sense of how the demand picture looks for you?
And then, the second question is you had commented, I think it was on the fourth quarter call, when you talked about '08 relative to gross margins and you had a goal of getting, of exiting the year of 4Q '08 gross margin north of 50% and I was wondering how that looked.
Dr. Fred Moll
Let me address the demand side and then maybe Gary could talk about the margins and where we are and where we think we can get to. Mike, we're really pleased at the demand we're seeing and it's coming from, as we've talked about before, large academic centers as well as community hospitals and the momentum is, we think, growing very nicely.
And as we get more clinical experience under our belt, we have more and more confidence that we have a clinical value equation that makes sense for electrophysiologists and I think we're seeing potential customers that get to know our system better and are seeing that as well. So we think that the demand is strong and feel very good about 2008.
Steve Van Dick
This is Steve. In terms of the gross margins, even though we don't provide any specific guidance on margins going forward, we still feel comfortable with the type of numbers and kind of the general trend numbers that we gave out in Q4.
Mike Weinstein - JPMorgan
So, I'm sorry, Steve, I'm just trying to be clear. Wasn't there a goal out there to exit the year with a gross margin north of 50%? Was that a stated goal?
Steve Van Dick
No that was not a stated goal.
Mike Weinstein - JPMorgan
Okay. Maybe that was my goal for you.
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