[patio11]

It's doable, though it has much to anti-recommend it from the developer's perspective. (I've sold 10k copies of my first software product. Guaranteed revenue for November as of November 1st: zero.)

But for the runaway success of the iPhone App Store model software-sold-like-shirts would probably be in even wider retreat than it already is. (The competitive models include "$X upfront plus 20% yearly for maintenance", "$X upfront plus an upgrade cycle which strongly encourages you buy a new version for 50% of X every 18 ~ 24 months", and, of course, SaaS. The popularization of the SaaS billing model is one of the biggest things that happened for software in decades, because it lets you sell $4,000 software to someone with $200 of willingness/capability to spend.)