Regardless of your ranking, you said something was best. Then you said you are not declaring anything was best. Maybe you didn't realize I was echoing you... Whatever the case it doesn't matter to me so let's just agree to drop the semantics, ok? :)
Can you assist with these questions, or explain why they are not relevant to the OP?
What revenue did Axis gain due to ONVIF?
Help me out with this one, B says marketing benefits and goodwill, anything else?
What revenue did Axis lose due to ONVIF?
Reduced margins due to competition from Asia. Yes I know Analog HD is also responsible to a degree, but ONVIF accounts for at least that much pressure. And in the early days there was no Analog HD.
What revenue did the Asian Mfrs gain due to ONVIF?
I would say a lot, since it opened up all the major VMSes to their products without needing direct integration. And back then they were way down the integration list.
Before ONVIF the IP camera market leader was clearly Axis, where were Hikua in 2008? Today it's Hikvision, Dahua and then Axis. And yes I think that the Chinese domestic market is the first part of their story but they didn't affect Axis' margin until the second part of the story, when their ONVIF cameras were able to be used in place of Axis ones.
To summarize, if Axis had continued on its VAPIX path, it would have likely delayed the onset of cheap, western VMS compatible, Asian cameras by some time period in which margins would have been higher. Yes/No
Is Axis current control of ONVIF worth what the increased profits from that time period would have been?