[vl]

EC2 and S3 moat comes from extreme economies of scale. Only Google and Microsoft can compete. You would never be able to achieve S3 profitability because you are not going to get same hardware deals, same peering agreements, same data center optimization advantages. On top of that there is extremely optimized software stack (S3 runs at ~98% utilization, capacity deployed just couple weeks in advance, i.e. if they don’t install new storage, they will run out of capacity in a month).

[mystifyingpoi]

> S3 runs at ~98% utilization

I'm geniuinely curious, source?

[bloppe]

I wouldn't call it a moat. A moat is more about switching costs rather than quality differentiation. You have a moat when your customers don't want to switch to a competitor despite that competitor having a superior product at a better price.