I read this article recently, that basically says that users who download an application from the App store usualy only use it once or twice. This can be problematic since users will likely be more hesitant to purchase applications since they know they are only going to use it a few times right after the download it and forget about it. Combined with the escalating growth of applications in the App store, leads to a bit of a problem for most appslications. In that if they are not in the top 25, they most likely will never get used.
So, my thoughts on this are to get a subscription model, like NetFlix or perhaps Safari Books. Users would pay a flat fee per month, and get a set number of applications that they can have installed at the same time. Each application creator will get paid each time a user has that application installed per month. So if a user keeps an application installed for 2 months, the author will get paid twice. The user of course will have the option to just buy the application right then, and free up a slot to download others. Perhaps they could even purchase it for a discounted price.
This would allow users to try applications more freely and allow their creators to still get paid from sources that would likely have never purchased their application in the first place.
Just a thought, I doubt Apple will ever implement this idea, but what can you do.
