I think the closest analogy is pay-per-minute cell phones. No automatically renewing bill, but they do get recurring income from people who keep using it. Call it a one time fee per notebook if you want to, it's still a revenue stream per user than can keep them in business as long as users are using and replacing notebooks.

So the important nuance regarding your previous comment is that "new sales" doesn't mean "new users." You could run a stable business off of this with a steady user base, unlike a pay once use forever model.

This feels like a better bet for them than subscriptions. I certainly wouldn't have been interested in their previous model, but now I am.