There must be more to the market than meets the eye, domestically and abroad - for every country. Its tempting to gauge the market by the trends we see on CPF, however we have no way of knowing how representative CPF is of the overall market, from a retail, commercial, military or government perspective. My guess is that manufacturers have assessed the international market (in all of these areas) and have found it to be underdeveloped on the supply side because of price and number of quality manufacturers. I don't think we'd see so many new offerings, variations, incremental improvements, and/or new manufacturers if there was any belief that the market was either a) saturated, or b) mature in terms of price and quality. The non-consumer, or government/commercial side is huge.
From my perspective, limited competition has created a tremendous historical advantage for the founding fathers of high-end flashlights, but that bubble is about to burst, because the market is large enough to attract competition, and to survive, EVERY manufacturer must produce a better or equal quality product at a lower price. Given this shift, the big guys will be reluctant to give up margin, which will create a price-point versus quality vacuum, which will further fuel competition. Brand recognition will only go so far in the face of better or equal products at a lower price. Since most of the market is and has been grossly over priced from a strict manufacturing perspective, and the market is clearly large enough to be attractive, there is tremendous opportunity. IMHO, we will see price continue to drop, quality will be maintained (and improved by market leaders) and those manufactures without BOTH quality and competitive price will lose market share and die. In the end both consumers and expert manufacturers will win. US car makers experienced a similar market transformation, which continues to this day.