This is awkward. Disney (NYSE:DIS) is starting to rent some of its latest DVD releases through the Xbox digital delivery marketplace. Why is this so weird? Well, Disney's largest shareholder is Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) chief Steve Jobs. The Xbox is, of course, made by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Don't let the chummy summit that found Jobs and Bill Gates buttering each other up two months ago fool you. The companies may have had a few instances of symbiotic history, but they will only continue to butt heads in the future.

Apple doesn't make video gaming consoles, but this move does have deep implications. Digital delivery is a big part of the competitive landscape between the two companies. Disney was the first major film studio to jump on Apple's video-enabled iPods. But now that it will be serving celluloid rentals directly into Xbox hard drives, does it make the Apple iTunes video store a little less relevant? Yes. Does it give the struggling iPod rival Zune an eventual lifeline if Microsoft grows as a digital entertainment media provider? Sure.

Microsoft has made no bones about embracing digital delivery. New Xbox 360s with chunkier hard drives are made for storing more video games, music files, and video. Disney would be a fool to abstain from exploring the incremental revenue streams. Apple has to realize that. Just because Disney is now offering Bridge to Terabithia to Microsoft gamers doesn't mean that it's burning bridges with Apple.

It's not personal. It's just digital business.

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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz thinks that bridges are better crossed than burned. He does own shares in Disney. He is also part of the Fool's Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.