Axis Video Revenue Down (Q3 2016)

Canon already has a strong VMS in Milestone. It no longer makes sense to keep Axis and Milestone separate if their is an aim to provide and "End-to-End" solution

Update: Canon video surveillance Americas and EMEA sales will now fall under Axis revenue, Axis confirmed. This will likely increase Axis revenue by 2-5% for the next year relative to the previous year w/o Canon. As such, it will not be a huge factor, but it will somewhat skew Axis results up.

We estimated Canon video surveillance revenue in the Americas and EMEA to be the in $20 - $50 million range annual, compared to Axis ~$800 million annual revenue.

Axis is in trouble. To us it all started when Samsung made the push a couple of years ago. We finally got hit in the head with the huge price differential. It took a year an a half for the quality to get in line but then this issue went away and then we were left with this feeling of how much we were over paying and possibly losing work because we were carrying Axis. This opened the door and Axis was asking us to be patient, they were going to come out with new camera models/lines that were cheaper but they missed the boat, they were cheaper, sure, but had less features and we then started using Samsung even more. Now over the last year and a half they have even more models but they are still slightly more than their competitors and they want us to ask for special pricing every time, well ah no, sorry. They have always known they were pricing their cameras too high, that is why it was always about "value", I get it. Now to me it is getting worse because they want to "diversify", this is just a way of blurring the issue, they now are going to be aggressive regarding the whole Eco system. They are going to want their recorders or soon they will be having deals with free Milestone licenses when using Axis cameras, they will have free access control software integrated with Milestone if you use the A1001 etc. They have no choice, they will always have trouble competing with Hikvision and Hanwha and Dahua etc., they can't sell on price (still). Now I will say I love Axis, they remind me of my own business, we don't sell on price either! We sell on service/expertise and capability and there our customers that want what we have to offer and are willing to pay for this level or shall I say "value". Issue is we are not a manufacturer in a business now flooded by a large quantity of manufacturers making good to great products and these companies are not trying to nor need to own an entire Eco system.

As an aside, I see a second flood of lower price cameras/manufacturers coming to market (just like I say five years ago when Samsung made their push - before Hikvision). I am now carrying one brand and find my self losing projects to competitors carrying $100 cameras, this leaves Axis in the dust and now that old Samsung company, they are making a push with an even lower cost product series to compete with Hikvision. Axis isn't even in the loop on these which is why their share of the business is going down. IMHO.

Axis will have to reduce their prices to avoid losing in front of companies like Hikvision, which although not yet have the quality of Axis, every day are closer.

In Mexico, this year Hikvision has become the no. 1 in IP cameras, leaving Axis in No. 2