Name based virtual host without modifying clients hosts file

[emattias]

How can I make it so that this request:

http://serverIp/example.com

is the same as going to example.com on a machine where example.com has been pointed to my servers ip in the hosts file?

I'd like to be able to send a link to a client without forcing them to modify their hosts file to point example.com to my servers ip.

My idea was to fake a domain name request using a sub directory but porhaps this has a smarter soultion?