Amazon's Less Is More

But while both companies have made big gains since they announced quarterly earnings, Amazon's stock has rallied sharply mainly because it said it would take a break from technology spending.

Wall Street will be especially welcoming if the company can build momentum behind its offering and shift its stance from spending on tech to finding new ways to profit from it. "On the analyst side, Amazon gets hammered for its technology spending -- including by me," says Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst at Global Crown Capital. "But this is a move in the right direction."

A warm reception for its new Web services could once again make Amazon look like a true innovator -- even if it's a less technological one than it might have hoped to be a few quarters ago.