NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Thanks to commercials for erectile dysfunction drugs, men know to seek medical attention for "erections lasting more than four hours," but a new study suggests a blood disorder is the cause of many prolonged erections.
While the condition - formally known as priapism - is rare, researchers report in The Journal of Urology that between 14 percent and 30 percent of cases that show up in U.S. emergency rooms are men with sickle-cell disease.
"I would say what the paper is telling us is that sickle-cell disease is still responsible for the bulk of the visits for priapism," said Dr. Gregory Broderick, professor of urology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, who was not involved in the study.
Sickle-cell disease is an inherited disorder that leads to red blood cells containing an abnormal type of hemoglobin. The defective cells frequently take on a sickle- or crescent-shape and can block small blood vessels, which can lead to tissue damage or even stroke.
Especially dangerous for people with the sickle-cell trait is becoming dehydrated, which thickens the blood and can provoke a potentially fatal "sickle-cell crisis."
Other complications of the condition are anemia, jaundice, gallstones, severe leg and arm pain, and spleen, liver and kidney damage.
Previous studies have linked priapism to sickle-cell disease, as well as to illegal drug abuse and use of erectile dysfunction treatments.
To get a better idea of who is most likely to experience priapism, and why, researchers led by the University of Montreal Health Center's Dr. Florian Roghmann analyzed a database of U.S. ER visits between 2006 and 2009.
They found that 32,462 men came to ERs with priapism during that period, which works out to be less than one emergency visit per 100,000 U.S. men. Of those patients, about 13 percent ended up being admitted to the hospital.
The figures were not significantly different from the past, according to the researchers, which suggests the problem is not becoming more common as the population ages.
About half the men were treated at urban teaching hospitals. And about 14 percent of were reported to have sickle-cell disease, but that number was even higher - about 31 percent - among patients younger than 18 years old. About 4 percent of the patients said they had abused drugs.
The study did not assess how many of the men had used erectile dysfunction drugs. Nor could the researchers tell from the data how many of the ER visits were by the same patients.
But the high proportion of patients identified as having sickle-cell disease, according to Broderick, suggests sickle-cell is the main driver of priapism.
"You're really talking about a demographic slice," said Broderick, who has researched priapism but wasn't involved with the new study.
Sickle-cell disease is most common among people of African, especially West African, descent.
The condition is not thought to cause priapism directly by clogging blood vessels with damaged cells. Rather, it's believed that when the defective red blood cells break, their contents in the bloodstream interfere with signaling from the brain that regulates blood flow and tissue responses, according to Broderick.
The study team also found that priapism is more common during the summer months and in warmer climates. Broderick said that may be due to dehydration among people with sickle-cell disease.
But he cautioned that the new study cannot say for certain what caused priapism in these patients. So the researchers can't rule out other explanations.
Regardless of the cause, Broderick told Reuters Health that the condition can lead to serious long-term complications if it's not treated quickly.
"It's a time-dependant emergency. The more time they've had the ischemic or erect penis, the more likely they're going to have erectile dysfunction," he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/ZQU1Kp The Journal of Urology, online April 10, 2013.
MEXICO CITY -- The lower house of Mexico's congress voted Tuesday to loosen longstanding restrictions on foreigners buying property along the coast and the nation's borders, a proposal that drew stiff criticism from some quarters.
The measure, which passed 356-119 in the Chamber of Deputies, still needs approval from the Senate and a majority of the country's 32 state legislatures to become law.
For decades, foreigners have had to use real-estate trusts or Mexican front companies to buy beachfront properties, because Article 27 of the constitution prohibits non-Mexicans from directly owning land within 31 miles (50 kilometers) of the coast and 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the nation's borders. The trusts and front companies have provided a lucrative income for banks, lawyers and notaries who are required to operate them, and the extensive paperwork has discouraged many foreigners from buying.
The change, sponsored by Congressman Manlio Fabio Beltrones of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, would allow foreigners to directly buy ocean-front property for residential use, but not for commercial projects.
Such proposals have been made before, but not by figures as influential as Beltrones, the PRI's congressional leader.
"This is about eliminating the middlemen who, through trusts, corporations and front men, have made a living off the constitutional ban," Beltrones' office said when he submitted the bill earlier this month. "It is a question of encouraging tourism investment and creating local jobs."
The Union of Indians and the Farmers' Force, a farmworkers group, criticized the proposal Tuesday, saying it would "give free rein to foreigners to legally buy up the best land, and encourage robbery and financial and real estate speculation."
"This would result in the foreign colonization of the country," the groups said in a statement.
Those are strong sentiments in a country frequently invaded by foreign powers in the 19th and early 20th century. Mexico set up the restrictions to ensure national security and avoid the creation of foreign enclaves like the one that grew up in a former Mexican province known as Texas, where the foreigners eventually rebelled and split from Mexico.
"For historical reasons, it was considered risky to allow foreigners to establish themselves permanently on the coast and the borders," according to Beltrones' proposal, but it says "the conditions that led the Constitution to limit such purchases have been overcome."
Arguing for the change Tuesday, Beltrones said, "Apart from ensuring legal certainty over property rights, this would financially benefit the coastal town government, given that it would make tax payments, like property taxes, easier to collect."
Kevin Graham, a Texan who runs the Costa Maya Living real estate firm in the Caribbean beach town of Mahahual, said some potential buyers are put off by the prospect of not being able to hold direct title to beach properties.
"I feel, with all the doubts they have, it's slowed the market down for foreign investment here," he said.
Federico Estevez, a political science professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, also cited the benefits to foreign investment by simplifying ownership for foreigners.
"This is to bring the law up to date, because basically it's going on anyway, but with all these foul distortions of having to pay people off," he said.
Noting that Mexico has been seeking more foreign investors, Estevez added: "You want their money, keep them here."
BANGKOK (AP) ? Crude prices rose Wednesday as traders waded back into the oil market following a string of positive corporate earnings and an improved U.S. housing report.
Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 45 cents to $89.63 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 1 cent to close at $89.18 a barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.
Strong earnings pushed all three major Wall Street indexes ? the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite ? higher Tuesday. Industry giants such as DuPont Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. reported results that were better than analysts expected. Additionally, housing data showed that sales of new homes increased 1.5 percent in March.
The rise in housing demand is also helping to boost prices, which tend to make homeowners feel wealthier and encourage more spending. That could drive up consumption of energy and prices of fuel.
Investors are now waiting for the latest data on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products. Data for the week ending April 19 is expected to show an increase of 1.4 million barrels in crude oil stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts.
Brent crude, which is used to price oil used by many U.S. refiners, rose 45 cents to $100.59 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
? Gasoline rose 0 .9 cent to $2.72 per gallon.
? Heating oil rose 0.3 cent to $2.801 a gallon.
? Natural gas fell 1.7 cent to $4.221 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Conventional wisdom has it that Apple has reached its peak and can only disappoint from now on. Yet, many financial facts don’t make sense. The market is too harsh with Apple compared to its competitors. But when it comes to products, there is an unsettling detail: there was no product release during fiscal Q2 2013. While Apple is certainly not doomed, its future looks gloomy. That’s why today’s earnings will be important for the company. Expectations “I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can’t help re-living such moments as these in my dreams, for such moments are something I have very rarely experienced.” –Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights (1848) Apple’s growth has been incredible over the past two years, with double-digit growth for sales and profit. For years, Apple bloggers have vigorously criticized analysts’ expectations regarding Apple earnings and units sold. Basically, Wall Street analysts were setting the bar too high for units and market share, and too low for profit and sales. It led to distortion. With a very minor market share, Apple was able to capture a big profit share. The company reported hit after hit after hit — that’s why Apple shares were doing so great even though sales were “disappointing” according to some analysts — the bottom line is more important than anything else. But now, analysts have caught up and Apple is only able to pull out mixed earnings compared to estimates. Even iPhone sales are now below analysts’ expectations. The company was supposed to sell between 6 million and 10 million iPhone 5 during opening weekend. In reality, it sold 5 million units. As a reminder, for the first weekend alone, analysts predicted sales of 1 million iPhone 4 and 2 million iPhone 4S, compared to 1.7 million and 4 million actual units sold. This time around, analysts have to lower their expectations to get closer to reality. Fortune’s consensus puts Apple’s Q2 2013 revenue at $42.6 billion with estimated earnings per share of $10.21. Revenue would still be up 8.7 percent year over year. But it’s disappointing given the incredible growth trend over the past couple of years. One of the reason is that gross margin will be lower than what it used to be. Last year, Apple reported a 47.4 percent gross margin. The company now expects a 37.5 to 38.5 gross margin. Finance Over the
Carrie Underwood made one Michigan high school girl forget her long list of troubles, if only for a few hours, on Saturday (April 20). The country music superstar took time before her Jacksonville, Fla., stop on the current Blown Away tour to meet Haley Gort, an 18-year-old who has been battling a brain tumor for more than two years, and the teen says it was an evening she will never forget.
"That was the best moment of my entire life," Haley tweeted, after meeting her musical idol before the show at the Jacksonville Veteran's Memorial Arena. "Thank you so much @CarrieUnderwood. See ya out there!"
The songstress wasted no time in sharing the love with her lifelong fan. "Finally got to meet @HaleyGort tonight!" Carrie tweeted, posting a photo of the pair on Instagram. "Hope she has fun at the show!"
Haley, who received a flight to the Florida show and tickets and backstage passes thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, says she is feeling better after suffering through intense treatment over the last few months.
"The chemo was way worse than the radiation," she explains to Michigan's MLive newspaper. "I had to sit in a chair for three hours for three days straight hooked up with an IV and feeling like crap. Then for about a week after, I was nauseous and vomiting. I couldn't keep food down and I lost my hair."
Thankfully, Haley felt well enough to attend Carrie's concert, and became even more of a fan after the show. "Okay all in one day I meet her and she tweets me?" she tweeted later that night. "Could life get any better?!?! @CarrieUnderwood is awesome. End of story."
Carrie continues her Blown Away tour tonight (April 23) with a show in Houston, Texas. Keep track of her tour schedule here.
Watch Carrie Underwood's 'Two Black Cadillacs' Video
Fertilizer that fizzles in a homemade bomb could save lives around the worldPublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nancy Salem mnsalem@sandia.gov 505-844-2739 DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia researcher develops a non-detonable fertilizer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A Sandia engineer who trained U.S. soldiers to avoid improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has developed a fertilizer that helps plants grow but can't detonate a bomb. It's an alternative to ammonium nitrate, an agricultural staple that is also the raw ingredient in most of the IEDs in Afghanistan.
Sandia has decided not to patent or license the formula, but to make it freely available in hopes of saving lives.
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer is illegal in Afghanistan but legal in neighboring Pakistan, where a quarter of the gross domestic product and half the workforce depend on agriculture. When mixed with a fuel such as diesel, ammonium nitrate is highly explosive. It was used in about 65 percent of the 16,300 homemade bombs in Afghanistan in 2012, according to government reports. There were 9,300 IED events in the country in 2009.
IEDs have killed more American troops than any other weapon during the 11-year war in Afghanistan. About 1,900 troops were killed or wounded in IED attacks in 2012, 60 percent of American combat casualties.
Ammonium nitrate explosives are not limited to Afghanistan. More than 700 IED attacks take place outside Afghanistan each month, and more than 17,000 global IED events have occurred in 123 countries in the past two years. The United States witnessed how deadly ammonium nitrate can be in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
U.S. efforts to curb the flow of ammonium nitrate fertilizer into Afghanistan through seizures, export controls and diplomacy have had limited success. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) was established by the Department of Defense in 2006 to reach out to the armed services, private sector and academia for counter-IED technologies. JIEDDO last year issued a call for ideas on how to neutralize ammonium nitrate as an IED explosive.
Sandia optical engineer Kevin Fleming took on the challenge and developed a fertilizer formula as good as, if not better, than ammonium nitrate, but not detonable.
An Achilles heel
"I looked at it differently," said Fleming, who retired from the labs in February. "I've been an organic gardener since I was eight. We had five acres in Las Cruces with the problems of calcareous soils that are very similar to those in the Middle East. I know something about commercial farming."
He also knew the chemistry of IEDs from years of training soldiers how to deal with them.
From a terrorist's perspective, ammonium nitrate has an Achilles heel. The ammonium ion is weakly attached to the nitrate ion. They hang onto each other, but the right chemical reaction can easily pull them apart. Fleming reasoned you could separate the ions by adding a compound they would rather cling to, called a metathesis reaction. "It would change into something else at the molecular level," he said.
Fleming tried several materials including iron sulfate, a readily available compound that steel foundries throw away by the tons. When mixed with ammonium nitrate, the iron ion "grabs" the nitrate and the ammonium ion takes the sulfate ion. Iron sulfate becomes iron nitrate and ammonium nitrate becomes ammonium sulfate. This reaction occurs if someone tries to alter the fertilizer to make it detonable when mixed with a fuel.
"The ions would rather be with different partners," Fleming said. "The iron looks at the ammonium nitrate and says, 'Can I have your nitrate rather than my sulfate?' and the ammonium nitrate says, 'I like sulfate, so I'll trade you.'"
Ammonium sulfate and iron nitrate are not detonable, even when mixed with a fuel, as is ammonium nitrate. "It's a different compound," said Fleming, who completed work on the formula in late 2012. "At the chemical level it's a great fertilizer but does not detonate."
Sandia chemical engineer Vicki Chavez ran a small-scale proof-of-concept of the reaction, and validated it. "We were able to prove that there was little to no ammonium nitrate left in the resulting process," she said. "It was very cool. We looked at pure ammonium nitrate and pure ammonium sulfate. The resulting sample looked more like ammonium sulfate."
Fleming said iron sulfate in fertilizer adds iron and acidifies soil. "It does good things for soil health. It takes alkaline soil and makes it more neutral, closer to an ideal pH level," he said. "The closer you get a neutral pH, the more crops grow. Crop yield would improve significantly.
"And iron-containing fertilizer added to the soil would be taken up in crops and help fight anemia and other iron deficiencies in people who eat them."
The soil in Afghanistan is alkaline with a high pH, and could benefit from an ammonium nitrate/iron sulfate fertilizer, Fleming said. "What they use now, ammonium nitrate with calcium carbonate which makes soil more alkaline doesn't make sense," he said.
Danger to soldiers
Sandia could have patented the formula but opted to waive ownership rights for humanitarian reasons.
"One of Sandia's priorities is deploying the technologies that result from our research for the public good," said Pete Atherton, senior manager of industry partnerships at Sandia. "We think that making the fertilizer formula as accessible as possible is the best way to accomplish this mission."
Replacing ammonium nitrate with a non-detonable fertilizer in Afghanistan and other parts of the world will not happen overnight, Fleming said. Ammonium nitrate is produced in huge plants in many locations. "It's easy to get in large quantities," he said. "The sheer volume of ammonium nitrate is gigantic."
But he said there are some ideas about how to get the non-detonable formula, which would not cost more to produce, into the marketplace. "We could give the formula to a neutral party and let them work with the Afghans, Pakistanis and others," he said. "They could set up side-by-side demonstrations to see which fertilizer works better. Prove it to them gradually."
Fleming has informed JIEDDO of his results. He said his sense of urgency in tackling the issue came from looking into the eyes of hundreds of soldiers he trained in anti-IED tactics. "Explosive Ordnance Disposal techs see a lot of IEDs, and about one third of them will die, be maimed or injured by IEDs before getting through their tours, and most from ammonium nitrate-based explosives," he said.
At a meeting last year in Crystal City, Va., Fleming sat next to an ex-Marine who had lost both legs trying to find IEDs. "He had a metal detector, but some bombs are chemically initiated with no metal parts. He stepped on a non-metal trigger and set off a blast that took off both legs. He became a double amputee in milliseconds. So when I sit next to him and see the aftermath of an IED, I have to think of any way possible to keep this from happening."
###
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.
Sandia news media contact: Nancy Salem, mnsalem@sandia.gov, (505) 844-2739
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Fertilizer that fizzles in a homemade bomb could save lives around the worldPublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nancy Salem mnsalem@sandia.gov 505-844-2739 DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia researcher develops a non-detonable fertilizer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A Sandia engineer who trained U.S. soldiers to avoid improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has developed a fertilizer that helps plants grow but can't detonate a bomb. It's an alternative to ammonium nitrate, an agricultural staple that is also the raw ingredient in most of the IEDs in Afghanistan.
Sandia has decided not to patent or license the formula, but to make it freely available in hopes of saving lives.
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer is illegal in Afghanistan but legal in neighboring Pakistan, where a quarter of the gross domestic product and half the workforce depend on agriculture. When mixed with a fuel such as diesel, ammonium nitrate is highly explosive. It was used in about 65 percent of the 16,300 homemade bombs in Afghanistan in 2012, according to government reports. There were 9,300 IED events in the country in 2009.
IEDs have killed more American troops than any other weapon during the 11-year war in Afghanistan. About 1,900 troops were killed or wounded in IED attacks in 2012, 60 percent of American combat casualties.
Ammonium nitrate explosives are not limited to Afghanistan. More than 700 IED attacks take place outside Afghanistan each month, and more than 17,000 global IED events have occurred in 123 countries in the past two years. The United States witnessed how deadly ammonium nitrate can be in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
U.S. efforts to curb the flow of ammonium nitrate fertilizer into Afghanistan through seizures, export controls and diplomacy have had limited success. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) was established by the Department of Defense in 2006 to reach out to the armed services, private sector and academia for counter-IED technologies. JIEDDO last year issued a call for ideas on how to neutralize ammonium nitrate as an IED explosive.
Sandia optical engineer Kevin Fleming took on the challenge and developed a fertilizer formula as good as, if not better, than ammonium nitrate, but not detonable.
An Achilles heel
"I looked at it differently," said Fleming, who retired from the labs in February. "I've been an organic gardener since I was eight. We had five acres in Las Cruces with the problems of calcareous soils that are very similar to those in the Middle East. I know something about commercial farming."
He also knew the chemistry of IEDs from years of training soldiers how to deal with them.
From a terrorist's perspective, ammonium nitrate has an Achilles heel. The ammonium ion is weakly attached to the nitrate ion. They hang onto each other, but the right chemical reaction can easily pull them apart. Fleming reasoned you could separate the ions by adding a compound they would rather cling to, called a metathesis reaction. "It would change into something else at the molecular level," he said.
Fleming tried several materials including iron sulfate, a readily available compound that steel foundries throw away by the tons. When mixed with ammonium nitrate, the iron ion "grabs" the nitrate and the ammonium ion takes the sulfate ion. Iron sulfate becomes iron nitrate and ammonium nitrate becomes ammonium sulfate. This reaction occurs if someone tries to alter the fertilizer to make it detonable when mixed with a fuel.
"The ions would rather be with different partners," Fleming said. "The iron looks at the ammonium nitrate and says, 'Can I have your nitrate rather than my sulfate?' and the ammonium nitrate says, 'I like sulfate, so I'll trade you.'"
Ammonium sulfate and iron nitrate are not detonable, even when mixed with a fuel, as is ammonium nitrate. "It's a different compound," said Fleming, who completed work on the formula in late 2012. "At the chemical level it's a great fertilizer but does not detonate."
Sandia chemical engineer Vicki Chavez ran a small-scale proof-of-concept of the reaction, and validated it. "We were able to prove that there was little to no ammonium nitrate left in the resulting process," she said. "It was very cool. We looked at pure ammonium nitrate and pure ammonium sulfate. The resulting sample looked more like ammonium sulfate."
Fleming said iron sulfate in fertilizer adds iron and acidifies soil. "It does good things for soil health. It takes alkaline soil and makes it more neutral, closer to an ideal pH level," he said. "The closer you get a neutral pH, the more crops grow. Crop yield would improve significantly.
"And iron-containing fertilizer added to the soil would be taken up in crops and help fight anemia and other iron deficiencies in people who eat them."
The soil in Afghanistan is alkaline with a high pH, and could benefit from an ammonium nitrate/iron sulfate fertilizer, Fleming said. "What they use now, ammonium nitrate with calcium carbonate which makes soil more alkaline doesn't make sense," he said.
Danger to soldiers
Sandia could have patented the formula but opted to waive ownership rights for humanitarian reasons.
"One of Sandia's priorities is deploying the technologies that result from our research for the public good," said Pete Atherton, senior manager of industry partnerships at Sandia. "We think that making the fertilizer formula as accessible as possible is the best way to accomplish this mission."
Replacing ammonium nitrate with a non-detonable fertilizer in Afghanistan and other parts of the world will not happen overnight, Fleming said. Ammonium nitrate is produced in huge plants in many locations. "It's easy to get in large quantities," he said. "The sheer volume of ammonium nitrate is gigantic."
But he said there are some ideas about how to get the non-detonable formula, which would not cost more to produce, into the marketplace. "We could give the formula to a neutral party and let them work with the Afghans, Pakistanis and others," he said. "They could set up side-by-side demonstrations to see which fertilizer works better. Prove it to them gradually."
Fleming has informed JIEDDO of his results. He said his sense of urgency in tackling the issue came from looking into the eyes of hundreds of soldiers he trained in anti-IED tactics. "Explosive Ordnance Disposal techs see a lot of IEDs, and about one third of them will die, be maimed or injured by IEDs before getting through their tours, and most from ammonium nitrate-based explosives," he said.
At a meeting last year in Crystal City, Va., Fleming sat next to an ex-Marine who had lost both legs trying to find IEDs. "He had a metal detector, but some bombs are chemically initiated with no metal parts. He stepped on a non-metal trigger and set off a blast that took off both legs. He became a double amputee in milliseconds. So when I sit next to him and see the aftermath of an IED, I have to think of any way possible to keep this from happening."
###
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.
Sandia news media contact: Nancy Salem, mnsalem@sandia.gov, (505) 844-2739
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Conventional wisdom has it that Apple has reached its peak and can only disappoint from now on. Yet, many financial facts don’t make sense. The market is too harsh with Apple compared to its competitors. But when it comes to products, there is an unsettling detail: there was no product release during fiscal Q2 2013. While Apple is certainly not doomed, its future looks gloomy. That’s why today’s earnings will be important for the company. Expectations “I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can’t help re-living such moments as these in my dreams, for such moments are something I have very rarely experienced.” –Fyodor Dostoyevsky, White Nights (1848) Apple’s growth has been incredible over the past two years, with double-digit growth for sales and profit. For years, Apple bloggers have vigorously criticized analysts’ expectations regarding Apple earnings and units sold. Basically, Wall Street analysts were setting the bar too high for units and market share, and too low for profit and sales. It led to distortion. With a very minor market share, Apple was able to capture a big profit share. The company reported hit after hit after hit — that’s why Apple shares were doing so great even though sales were “disappointing” according to some analysts — the bottom line is more important than anything else. But now, analysts have caught up and Apple is only able to pull out mixed earnings compared to estimates. Even iPhone sales are now below analysts’ expectations. The company was supposed to sell between 6 million and 10 million iPhone 5 during opening weekend. In reality, it sold 5 million units. As a reminder, for the first weekend alone, analysts predicted sales of 1 million iPhone 4 and 2 million iPhone 4S, compared to 1.7 million and 4 million actual units sold. This time around, analysts have to lower their expectations to get closer to reality. Fortune’s consensus puts Apple’s Q2 2013 revenue at $42.6 billion with estimated earnings per share of $10.21. Revenue would still be up 8.7 percent year over year. But it’s disappointing given the incredible growth trend over the past couple of years. One of the reason is that gross margin will be lower than what it used to be. Last year, Apple reported a 47.4 percent gross margin. The company now expects a 37.5 to 38.5 gross margin. Finance Over the
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Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
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