> I don't understand why AWS doesn't put more effort into Cognito without messing with pricing. It is such an effective loss-leader

AWS team\org business priorities, like P&L computation, changed pretty drastically in 2022-23.

Historically there were a lot of services built, run, and measured on the idea of solving customers diverse needs and making AWS a better place to run your business. This isnt a “loss leader” per se, but 1) profitability may not be your highest business prioirty 2) customers & shareholders valued growth & diversity of offerings above almost everything else 3) business units would set forward looking pricing based on marginal rates 2-3 years out under better utilization models 4) services would not-uncommonoly use “attribution” or “flow through” revenue models for P&L. Eg autoscaling doesnt have a meaningfully price, but it drives (hypothetically) 3% of EC2 instance hours. Autoscaling than books a portion of the 3% of instance hour revenue to their profit center. Cognito (or Route 53 or SSM where I worked) would use this sort of P&L model.

Circa 2022 AMZn shareholders, amazon execs, and the market more broadly turned to Revenue and Profit as the goal, no longer growth per se. This drastically changed a lot of internal business models. No more “free rides”, book revenue, define and execute a plan to be a many million dollar direct revenue business, the old “growth and better together” story wasnt selling.

And i dont think thats a bad thing per se, as a shareholder. I appreciate the focus on proving your value via pricing and usage. But there will be some sad “abandonware” and service shutdowns over the next few years.