Don't you know.. microsoft doesn't believe in discounts. The evil-empire runs a taxing system envied by the IRS itself. Entire industries have gone up in arms complaining that M$ cloud price structure doesn't allow for third party margins and still they hold strong to their price structure.
$70 isn't correct though. The cost was originally described upthread as ($10 per month) + ($5 per month), not ($10 per year) + ($5 per month).
That said, EV certs jumped in price over the past couple years. The total cost ends up being higher than the list price -- vendors tack on a non-trivial extra fee for the USB hardware token and shipping. All-inclusive I paid like $450 a year ago, and that was after getting a small repeat-customer discount.
So yes, Azure's service is substantially cheaper than an EV cert. And it also has the flexibility of being a monthly plan, rather than an annual commitment.