Dive Brief:

• Mobile wallet Isis is caught up in a tough branding challenge, due to violence in the Middle East involving an Islamic militant group called ISIS, which stands for "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria."

• AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon jointly late last year launched the wallet, the first nationwide NFC payment system linked to credit cards. It employs a one-time use PIN, which may be more secure than traditional credit card payments and could prevent the kind of cyber breach that occurred at several retailers last year.

• The company has announced that it plans to change its name due to recent events. 

Dive Insight:

Until the unfolding of recent events, “Isis” was a perfectly delightful name for a tech company: Isis is an Egyptian goddess who was a protector, swift like the wind, and magical. Come to think of it, that is exactly the kind of image a mobile payment system would want. It’s a nightmarish situation for a brand that is already hampered by the reluctance of its target customer to embrace what it’s offering.