The Case Against Jobs Going To Disney

There has been much speculation lately about the talks going on between Pixar and Disney in this new post-Eisner world. Many think Steve Jobs will end up on the board of directors at Disney or even it's chairman. While the deal would most likely make Mr. Jobs the largest individual shareholder in the Mouse House, it's a bad idea to think he should become close with the company. Think about it. Apple is in the middle of launching video content on it's iTunes Music Store (iTMS). They've already struck deals with NBC/Universal and ABC/Disney. If they have any hope of courting CBS, CNN, MTV, VH1, Discovery, or any of the other channels not already in the NBC or ABC families, then his Steveness needs to keep Disney at arms length. A strong relationship (as they've had so far) is a good thing, but too close and they could alienate the very content providers they need for the iTMS to be the #1 player in TV downloads. One trip here and someone else could grab this emerging market and leave iTunes wishing they'd jumped higher, sooner.

Like all of the Internet based businesses to date, we've learned that it's all about mindshare. That means that marketshare alone won't get you to number one. The perception must be that there is no other provider (in this case for legal downloadable content) worth bothering with. If another company were to succeed where Apple might fail with episodic TV downloads (and one can assume that someday feature films will be part of this) then it stands to reason that it's music service could suffer as well.

So please Mr. Jobs, don't get too cozy with Disney lest you ruin what has been a really great run.