What is typically NOT a characteristic of cloud services?

Ownership of physical hardware is typically not a characteristic of cloud services. In cloud computing, users access and use resources such as servers, storage, and applications over the internet, rather than owning or managing the underlying physical hardware themselves. This model enables organizations to utilize powerful computing resources without the need to invest in and maintain their own infrastructure, which can involve significant costs.

The other characteristics, such as flexibility in resource allocation, scalability of services, and pay-as-you-go pricing, are fundamental aspects of cloud computing. Users can adjust their resource usage based on current needs, scale services up or down quickly to accommodate fluctuating demand, and only pay for the resources they consume, making cloud solutions both efficient and cost-effective.