Palm announced yesterday that software developers will be able to start charging for applications downloads to its high-profile Pre smartphone with the company’s launch of an e-commerce beta programme set to start in mid-September. Developers will receive 70 percent of any revenue generated from downloads (with Palm taking the remaining share), but can also choose to give apps away for free. Consumers will be able to pay for apps using Visa and MasterCard credit cards. Palm said it expects to launch the full developer programme in the US “this fall.”

Palm’s efforts in the app store space are an attempt to follow the success of Apple’s original App Store, which helped boost iPhone sales. In June Palm launched its first handset (the Pre) that features its own store and runs its new operating system, webOS. Palm has said that Pre is the first of a line of phones to be based on webOS. Reports this week, however, suggest that availability of its next webOS handset, the so-called Eos (codename: Pixie), may be delayed until next year.