North America remains the dominant sales market for mobile video surveillance equipment, according to the latest research from IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a leading global source of critical information and insight.
In a global market of almost $500 million spent on mobile video surveillance equipment—not counting accessories—the Americas contributed around 70 percent of all revenue in 2012, a total of $346.6 million. The lion’s share of this revenue comes from the United States and Canada, meaning these two countries combined are bigger than the collective Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) region at $83.3 million or Asia at $68.7 million.
“The skew toward North America comes primarily through huge sales in the police car and school bus vertical markets,” said David Green, IHS senior analyst for video surveillance and report author of “The World Market for Mobile Video Surveillance – 2013”. “This is something we’ve seen in each of the previous three editions of the research, but sales across these two verticals have pushed North America even further out in front.”
In EMEA and Asia, meanwhile, opportunities for the market are growing particularly in the areas of transit buses and in trains and trams. Already, many of the leading manufacturers in North America say they are investigating future sales prospects in Europe. By 2017 American sales will jump to $489.0 million, compared to $116.2 million for EMEA and $91.8 million for Asia.
“It’s fair to assume that the Americas will remain by far the largest region for at least the foreseeable future, but don’t be surprised to see some quicker growth in EMEA and Asia in the second half of this decade,” Green concluded.