Steve Jobs is notorious for his attention to detail. And now his attention would be diverted to Mickey Mouse. Because, by virtue of Disney’s purchase of Pixar, Steve is now the biggest shareholder in the Walt Disney Company.

The bad news: This may distract the Jobs, taking away the full attention that he seems to have been giving Apple over the past few months, and which led to a number of breakthrough products such as the iPod nano. The wave of bold announcements over at Apple may now be at a recess.

The good news: This may become the definitive year of portable video, as an Apple-Mickey tandem (a.k.a. “Pixney”) leads to a greater integration of content and hardware, led primarily by Apple’s iTunes service. TV shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives, both under the Disney belt, are already doing well over iTunes. Coming soon: Monsters Inc. for download?

And note that iTunes has been the industry bellwether. Anything that they do, others follow. So if popular full-length Disney movies are offered, expect all the other movie studios to follow suit as well. With Jobs being the biggest Disney owner, this is almost sure to happen real soon.

The other good news is this: With Pixar in its fold, Disney is more likely to recapture its former glory. Let’s face it, Pixar has been out-Disney’ing Disney the past several years. All full-length Pixar releases, from Toy Story to The Incredibles, have been runaway successes, thanks in particular to John Lasseter, who is the true heir to the Disney Way. Meanwhile, Disney’s own animated efforts have been lackluster and, dare we say it, have strayed from the Disney path. Having Pixar will hopefully stop Disney from coming out with any more bombs such as Treasure Planet.

Which means more movies worth downloading in the future. Which means more reasons for getting portable video devices such as Apple’s iPod 5G-and-beyond.

Which also means that, sooner or later, if video becomes the main growth thrust of Apple’s strategy, then iTunes has to eventually become more international-friendly. Perhaps we’ll soon see local Apple dealers selling prepaid cards for downloading media from iTunes.

Amazing to think that all of this can come out of the influence of just one man. But that’s Steve Jobs for you. Steve Jobs is Apple. Without Steve, Apple would still be meandering right now.

And now Steve Jobs is Disney. Hmmm. Reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode where this grumpy man dons a Santa suit and ends up actually transforming into Santa…