So, Steve Jobs has all but succeeded in selling Pixar to Disney. Time will tell if this goes down the similarly to when he sold NeXT to Apple, and then routed out much of the existing leadership and took control.

What I’m wondering is what I’m sure a lot of other people are wondering: What happens with Apple? It’s not news that Apple is already been becoming more of a consumer electronics and entertainment company.

I have to wonder if the switch to Intel chips isn’t a step towards divesting the computer part of the business in preparation for a merger of the remainder of the company with Disney. At the very least, it will make it easier for Apple to rely on 3rd parties to do more and more of the design and manufacturing of Macs.

It’s really about time, too. The time where it was really necessary for vertical integration between operating systems software and personal computer hardware is past. On the other hand, vertical integration between media devices, operating systems, applications software and media is clearly at hand if we ever hope to see this stuff working smoothly together.

I mean, come on, as just one example, converting DVDs for viewing on both the iPod and the various microsoft personal media center devices basically requires the use of 3rd party software of uncertain legality.

That said, there are plenty of good reasons for Apple not to merge with Disney, one of them being that it leaves them in a better position to do partnership deals with other content companies.

I guess we’ll see in a few years, won’t we.