Is CiviCRM planning a 'cloud' version of civicrm (perhaps using AWS or Azure)?
Yes, if by &quot;cloud version&quot; you mean an on-demand managed service. CiviCRM LLC is currently trialing Spark, a hosted entry-level CiviCRM offering.

https://civicrm.org/spark

This service is currently in beta, and you can sign up at the link above. From the linked page:

CiviCRM Spark — currently in Beta — allows you to get your own installation of CiviCRM up-and-running in minutes, with a specially-customized version including the new Shoreditch interface.
Spark is ideal for organizations of any size wanting to test and trial CiviCRM, or for smaller organizations and activities with up to 2000 contacts.

This offers an easy entry point to running CiviCRM, without the ongoing effort of managing a server.
Note the mentioned 2000 contact limit (as of April 2018), beyond which you could consider hosting with other providers, eg those mentioned in Erik's answer, or running your own version.