Charging for apps may just be the wave of the future, according to Chris Wade, the brand new CEO of Shozu, whose application allows users to upload content on their phones to content sharing sites—such as Flickr and Facebook—on the internet. Though there’s been much debate about whether its only free apps that do well with consumers, and whether consumers have now been primed to expect apps for free, or at the 99-cent mark, Wade, who is Shozu’s largest private shareholder, and has been its chairman since 2002, believes that many companies, and especially those backed by VCs, will soon have no choice but to start charging.

Shozu, which has received funding from the UK’s Atlas Venture and Sweden’s SEB Venture Capital among others, has itself gone down this route, having switched business models from earning revenues from licensing handset deals and the ever-elusive mobile ad sales. Wade, whom we caught up with recently, says bluntly, “I see no way that relying on mobile ad revenues will prosper at this point in time.” “The joke goes that VC’s are paying for people’s free apps. But the [ad] model is broken, and the idea that VCs will keep pumping vast amounts of money into companies is wrong. Not because they won’t, but because they can’t for obvious reasons. The [ad model] takes too long, and most don’t have the amount of time it requires.”

Shifting business models: In the past, Shozu pursued licensing deals with handset makers in order to embed its apps onto phones to allow them to amass the widest possible audience. The idea was to one day earn revenues from advertising to them. But, Wade says that this business model was “not sufficiently remunerative to pay for technology and development to keep Shozu, a software-intensive company, to remain competitive.” Speaking with Wade, you get the sense that companies like Shozu are almost being given a second lifeline with the rise of app stores, having struggled often for years trying to score enough handset licensing deals to get the type of distribution that would be attractive to advertisers. Indeed, for mobile app makers handset deals were pretty much the only way to get that distribution, other than through carriers. “App stores changed that,” says Wade, “It became really clear to us that they have the potential to be a much more remunerative business model for us.”

But will consumers pay for apps: Earlier this month, Shozu released its iPhone app, which sells for a relatively hefty $4.99. Wade says the company “struggled” over whether or not to charge, and how much to charge, but believes that users will pay for quality apps, and the trick for Shozu will be to continue “innovating” and bettering its functionality. Since launching three weeks ago on the App Store, Wade reports that Shozu’s iPhone app sells in the “hundreds” per day, which is “pretty comfortable,” but will need to improve. It plans to release a similarly priced Blackberry app at the end of July, and one for the Ovi Store, in the near future.

Is Shozu running out of money? Wade dismissed the notion that after six years, Shozu is running low on funds. He said that the company was “very fortunate” to have SEB Ventures as its largest shareholder. “There is no issue with funding.”

Is Shozu too late? Wade acknowledges the very tough path that it has, especially considering the raft of competitors it has. Just in the photo uploading space, it competes with Ontela and PixSense, not to mention that a number of the online photo sites now have their own mobile tools to help users upload content. For additional content, it competes with JuiceCaster and Pixelpipe, among others. Wade says it has the technology to be able to upload contacts and address books but acknowledges that this would take them into territory of products like Apple’s MobileMe. Wade insists “it is not too late” for Shozu, and that all of their competitive reviews of players in their space show they are “at least equal to them” in functionality.

Replacing CEOs: Wade shot down rumors that former CEO Mark Bole, who was with the company since 2004 and whom he replaces, had been fired for not steering Shozu to a better position. “Let’s be clear,” says Wade, “Mark was a great CEO. He has built Shozu…and he has left by ‘mutual agreement.’” Wade also confirmed that his appointment is not a temporary one, or at least it’s not meant to be. “I once got some advice from John Peett [one of the original Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) founders who was chairman at Cambridge Positioning Systems where Wade was CEO for nine years]. I asked, ‘How do you know you’re doing a good job as a ceo?’ Peett, said to me, “You’re CEO, until you’re not.”