Apple Pay and PayPal are the latest payment methods to reach our retail stores and sites. Available on iPhone 6, Apple Pay enables your mobile phone to be used as a mobile wallet. You simply pass your phone near to the terminal, anything with the ApplePay logo or the currently available contactless symbol. The limit for Apple Pay is currently the same as contactless ie £20. I understand that this is moving to £40 per transaction in October.

Interestingly no such limit exists if someone is spending in the Apple store, subject to normal card payment limits.

CBE has also developed an interface to Paypal. Shell has adopted the PayPal route at 22 sites with Fill Up and Go. You select a pump from your phone and an amount up to £150. The pump is authorised by the customer taking a picture of an enlarged QR code by the side of the pump. The receipt is then emailed to them.

Meanwhile, CBE has announced a new relationship with self-checkout (SCO) manufacturer NCR. First off the base is a hybrid unit that can be both an SCO and POS, by twisting the screen to face the customer or cashier.

The unit is also a full money recycling unit, so notes and coins are re-used within the system. The first NCR/CBE system is being installed in Ireland this month.

Technology and in particular the gadget sector is still moving at a pace. Just look at the number of new watches that have appeared along with the Apple watch. And new drones are appearing at a rapid pace, my favourite is the DJI Phantom 3.

The next Apple phone should have Force Touch built in. This technology will allow a new way of interacting with the phone, alongside the current swipes and taps.

On the Apple Watch, it allows the screen to act like another button with long presses bringing up extra options on the screen.

At a recent international conference, PepsiCo proposed that social media would play an important and crucial part of a marketing company’s future.

If you can’t use the likes of Facebook, Instagram, twitter and LinkedIn then be prepared to miss out big time, or not, depending on your viewpoint.

Sensors in your phone and other gadgets will alert stores to your presence and send you offers to tempt you.

Topics