The Walt Disney Corp. has sold 1.3 million movies via Apple's iTunes store since the service started in October. Robert Iger, Disnelys' CEO, reported the results on Thursday in an interview with the Financial Times. This success is creating mounting pressure on the other studios to participate.

Other movies studios have so far resisted the idea of pay-to-own movies on the Internet thinking that this would lead to friction with other channel partners, more piracy, and reduction in revenues. But Robert Iger's view is that Disney is increasing the availability of media and creating a bigger pie for everyone.

The view that Disney had to compete with itself or someone else would was also expressed by Mr. Iger who said, "If we don�t put our content on these platforms, which the consumer has obviously embraced, other entities will create content and fill that void."

Disney has also sold more than 20 million downloads of its TV programming via iTunes since that service started a year ago.

Some analysts have proposed that the only reason Disney struck this deal with Apple was the influence of Steve Jobs as a board member of the Disney Corp. But the success of Disney's venture and Robert Iger's vision of the future suggest that it's only matter of time before other studios come around to his way of thinking. The question is, will they stumble along, deploy their own systems, continue to experiment with streaming, or strike a non-exclusive arrangement with Apple?