As a host I would never offer it, and from a consumers point I would be very skeptical of hosts offering it.
They think they are getting a lifetime account and then find out there are "hidden charges"
I agree. The site might get unexpectedly large and you'd be at a loss providing more for less - as for the customer, it might be a total bust and they feel they've wasted their money.
As a customer I wouldn't take the offer up of lifetime hosting, what's to say the company will be trading in 2 years time? Or even 6 months with that business model
Agreed - that's a pretty terrible idea. Most of the hosts that offered it in the past have gone under, for a good reason - it requires constant new signups in order to function as a business model.
Personally, I don't think it would work for many, many reasons.
However, it may do, if you had a few people whom all signed up for 10gb bandwidth and 750mb space at $8,500 - then, it may work. However I doubt anyone can shell out that much for 70 years worth of hosting in one go.