Ah, I see! We knew that consulting shops would like this because it allows them to get an account set up without a credit card, and ask the client to complete the signup process, including handing over their credit card. :-)

Clients with limited budgets are easily sticker shocked by hosting costs. Having the option to bundle 20 days of free production hosting is a great addition to any development service. EY AppCloud is a great service and we hate to see clients opt out without giving it a try.

We considered giving more time on smaller instances, but in the end we felt our customers are more concerned with getting production sites up and running. So we're giving 500 hours of time on instances highly suited for public facing sites with sizable traffic.

No, we don't expect many will make a decision based upon 500 free hours, but we do expect many will give us a try, and make their decision based upon the experience they have during their 500 hour trial. :-)