"The collapse last Thursday of the Disney- Pixar negotiations over a new distribution agreement appears to have been a clash of egos and business interests. But it was also very much a sign of the changing balance of power between the conventional media giants and the entrepreneurs wielding digital technologies that are rapidly changing the way media content is made and distributed.

The success of Mr. Jobs's digital film studio, Pixar, has come not from upending the business of distributing movies, but from employing computers as powerful creative tools for movie animators steeped in the traditional art of storytelling.

For all his talk of revolution over the years, Mr. Jobs has taken a disciplined, evolutionary approach to the media industry that has been remarkably successful: Apple is the leader in the music download market and Pixar's "Finding Nemo'' is one of the most financially successful animated films."