Axis: "No One Wants To Buy A Camera"

Better slogans...

"People want a solution more than a camera"

"We're cameras that offer solutions"

"People want to buy more than just a camera"

"People get more than just a camera [with Axis]"

"Buy this camera or we'll run over your dog"

I have to agree with Axis here.

Edge analytics aren't used enough or fully understood. Many of the tests that IPVM published for edge analytics end up getting a poor review because assumptions are made and a test is created around those assumptions. The key to edge analytics is understanding the weaknesses and educating the customer where to avoid using them. I've had high success using line crossing, area intrusion and loitering etc for applications I know they will create minimal to zero false alarms. Understanding scheduling, sensitivity, lighting etc are all part of it. It takes a high degree of experience to get it right, but it can be done and the end user loves it. In the next few years, edge analytics will work much better and not require such experience.

People want a solution, not just a stream. The industry understands this as you see more and more consumer IP video products offering analytics like Nest, Ring and Hanwha doorbells and cameras being integrated to home intrusion and home automation. I will boldly claim that anyone who syas they just want a camera, is ignorant to the benefits of a solution or mistakingly think a solution costs much more.

I think the only thing wrong with Axis' statement is they stopped too soon.

Nobody wants to buy a camera. Or a VMS. Or an access control system. Or a fire alarm. Or analytics.

We are not in the business of selling cool, highly desired equipment. What we are selling is closer to insurance. People recognize they need it, but they'd really be much happier if there existed a scenario where they could confidently assert that they could put that money towards something more rewarding for themselves or their company.

Here's what consumers have to say about Axis. "Who's that?"

What brands do consumers know? The systems in Costco and Walmart. 

This "profound" marketing strategy from Axis isn't going to help them. They still don't get it. Like most manufacturers, they're disconnected from the end-user, and their marketing speaks to it. 

Here's what consumers want. They want an easy to use app. They want to share video with their friends and neighbors on social media easily. Most consumers are looking to see wildlife and when packages are delivered. When we sell $20-30k camera systems in these big homes, you know what feedback we get? I want to see clearly when/if a package was delivered and when my kids are standing and waiting for the bus. 

Why are companies like Ring, Nest and the like winning over consumers? Because their ads are focused on how easy their system is to use. 

I can buy a Yi camera on Amazon for $30 that outperforms any Axis camera in a child's bedroom. That's sad. 

Axis and other professional brands need to spend more of their marketing resources on providing companies like mine with fuel to fight Ring and Nest. Provide me with material thats customizable to my company to combat these other companies locally.

I'm going to be the guy that agrees with axis in a manner of speaking. Edge analytics are the thing that is going to eliminate the need for VMS systems to a large degree along with eliminating the need for humans sitting and ineffectually 'monitoring' video streams. New systems are starting to use deep learning and cloud based AI training to eliminate false positives while implementing predictive analytics and JIT reactions as opposed to a reactive 'investigative' mentality. 

I know the security and access controls people like to stay a solid 15 years in the past, but this stuff is coming, its improving exponentially and IS going to eliminate a ton of human error, hardware and delay to actions.

We had a nice deep meeting with a company doing JUST this who has raised something like $15M in VC funding. This is not a pipe dream, but what will be readily available at around $15/mo/cam in their particular model. We are sitting down this week to extrapolate the staffing, HR, payroll and Incident response impacts. 

MC

I think they meant to say "No one can buy our cameras.... becasue they are out of stock constantly".

But in all reality, you need a system or solution.  Since Axis usually sells cameras and not end-to-end solutions, it may be hard for them to get out there and sell "just cameras".

Axis has a huge issue. They don't have kit to ship. When you get it it doesn't work or it breaks in a few months.. 

You can buy Chinese kit for half the price, its in stock and it works, if you get an issue they sort it super fast. 

Is Chinese kit perfect no but neither is Axis and you don't need to pay more for it...

This is what philosophers call a 'deepity':

The term refers to a statement that is apparently profound but actually asserts a triviality on one level and something meaningless on another. Generally, a deepity has (at least) two meanings: one that is true but trivial, and another that sounds profound, but is essentially false or meaningless and would be "earth-shattering" if true.

lol.

fwiw, I were a philosopher I might observe that the statement “No one wants to buy a camera.” is actually trivially untrue, since many people want to buy a camera.  

Compare with “The camera is just one part of a security system”.  In this case we have a undeniable simple truth (it is one part), coupled with a deeper questionable interpretation (it is no more important than any other part to the whole).

Axis needs to get back to being good at cameras.  Quit pretending to be some great software company - they aren't.  You want good software - buy some software companies.  This stupid P3225-LVE failure bug has cost us 30 hours of 'free' repairs on newly installed systems.  Camera just dies.  Axis has had more and more bugs along with shortages.

We have tested Axis edge analytics and they are not very good. And while Axis has nearly a decade leading building an app store for edge analytics (i.e., ACAP), that too has languished.

I would love to see their other edge based analytics tested.  Their line queue, people counting, occupancy, demographic, etc.  I've used them in recently and have had mixed results based off of where the cameras were installed.  One installation I was able to do fresh, and had great success, the other, installed at in existing location and was barely able to get the accuracy to 80%.

Wow, is this off base............. Obviously, IPVM was not represented at the recent ACCC event with 2 full days of networking, strategy, road mapping, statistics and new product announcements (lots of marketing). What are you talking about, am I missing something?

While I agree that it is a shallow approach to the market to accept that someone is only looking to buy a camera, leading with "analytics" can also be a misleading approach.  The area of analytics encompasses everything from the simple (trip wire) to the more advanced (object identification).  The disparity of performance from one company touting analytics to another is too great to be able to determine which manufacturer's software is actually best for a given application.  To top that, the reliability factor from the same application varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.  The field of analytics hasn't been researched and documented for the benefit of the market to the same extent that camera technology has, for example.  A particular user in the market can be taken in by claims of a manufacturer without any real basis of performance comparison.

I may have missed something... Where does Axis say this? looked to me that it was written by someone writing a tech article in a magazine/e-zine

Axis shot themselves in their own foot. Just before the Chinese came marching they rejigged their partner levels, Kicking out long term loyal partners to silver or just "partner" level ( which gives you nothing ). Also, support took a nosedive as did overall reliability. For example, 9 cameras installed additionally to a site, 7 failed in the first couple of months. No advance replacement just repair, UPS'ed back to Hungry. These cameras have been bouncing back on repair every few months. The customer was hacked off beyond belief.

The same customer uses Hik and has no issues, it's the 3rd of the price.

Companion series if compatible could have fought back as an option. But Axis don't appear to care or listen, unfortunately, they have just become a project lead company.