Oh, mighty Isis!

As a Gen X outcast, I recall the joy of Saturday morning cartoons of the late 1970s -- Batman, Scooby Doo, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear. But also the live action adventure series Shazam!, which chronicled the exploits of Captain Marvel, and its sister series Isis.

Isis was about a young teacher who finds a necklace that transforms her into the mythical goddess Isis when she utters the incantation, "Oh, mighty Isis!" As Isis, the woman could fly and command the elements of sky and earth.

All I really remember about the show is Isis in flight, with her arms extended out in front of her. The rest is a complete blank, probably because the episodes weren't memorable. (The show only lasted one season.)

This is the dilemma of the new Isis -- a brand new mobile contactless payment network at the point of sale. It is made up of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. The big three telecoms are trying to leverage their 200 million U.S. wireless phone subscriber base to transform themselves into a payments network like Visa and MasterCard.

Isis is going to use Discover's network of 7 million retailers to develop its own Isis branded network over which smart phone payments will be made.  It's a bold but problematic undertaking because V/MC are such entrenched, well-known brands that operate powerful, worldwide networks. Of course, the card brands also have designs on mobile payments, with pilots in the works that seek to circumvent the power of the telecoms.

So, will Isis soar or bomb? It is very much an open question that hinges primarily on how consumers want to pay with their phones. Remember, Isis was kicked off the air back in the late 70s because not enough kids like myself watched the show. If not enough consumers opt to use Isis, 30 years from now we'll be strolling once again down the hazy corridors of memory lane.