In the controversial issue of data and application lock-in in cloud-computing services, both Staten and Leong said AWS is better than most. "Amazon is pretty clean in this regard. Their API is completely open," Staten said.

"AWS doesn't have much in the way of lock-in at all right now," Leong said.

However, Staten warns that there is a degree of lock-in with SimpleDB, due to a specific database structure, as well as SQS and CloudFront.

Selipsky said AWS is committed to openness and interoperability, because it sees customer choice as key to its success. Regarding discussions about cloud computing industry standards, he said AWS believes they're needed. "The discovery of which areas require standards will occur over time and we look forward to being active participants in that discussion," he said.

With this market getting more and more crowded every day, the key for differentiating oneself is to stay in close contact with customers, Selipsky said.