I'd agree with the difference. Maybe it's the articles I've read recently, but Amazon seems to have more agile / startup philosophies (trying, failing, continuing support, and iterating) embedded higher up.

I've seen too many instances of pretty simple Google usability / feature bug reports closed as "will not fix / working as intended" to chalk it up to specific teams. "We built the Pontiac Aztek perfectly, and you should love us for it" type project design seems embedded in their DNA.