Google is looking to take the Android operating system to the big screen—the one in your living room, anyway. The company has partnered with Intel and Sony in order to bring a more interactive viewing experience to the TV in the form of (you guessed it) set-top boxes. The idea behind it is giving users the ability to seamlessly switch between Web apps and video entertainment, though there's already plenty of competition in this space. Or is there?

According to the New York Times, Google plans to treat this platform in the same way it treats Android for Mobile—it will open the platform to developers "within the next couple of months" and products could hit the shelves sometime this summer. That means third-party apps could show up on TV just as easily as they do on our mobile phones, from Twitter apps to games to Wikipedia browsing and more. It also means, however, that there's potential for an overflow of apps to be available (hello iPhone App Store).

Why, though, would Google possibly want to do this? "Google wants to be everywhere the Internet is so they can put ads there," an anonymous source familiar with the project told the Times. Indeed, the company's goal has long been to try to get ads—these days, targeted ads—in front of users' faces wherever they go, whether it's on their living room couch, in the car, or walking down the street.

The challenge will be to actually get users on board with yet another set-top box. There's already the (still-a-hobby) Apple TV, the Roku, the good ol' TiVo, and numerous others that try to bring videos and more to the TV. And for those of us who use HTPCs (in either Mac or PC form), what will the Google box bring us that something like Boxee or XBMC doesn't?

On the other hand, if Google does a good job with the UI and ensures the box will work with some decent remotes—according to the Times' anonymous sources, Logitech may make a specialized remote with a built-in keyboard—the Google box may have more appeal than all of the aforementioned options. Imagine a set-top box that is not as obnoxious to deal with as a full-blown PC, easy-to-use as an Apple TV, but as open as any of Google's other projects. There could be apps for streaming Netflix, YouTube, and more.

Not every product Google unleashes on the public is a hit: witness the deafening silence surrounding Google Wave after its splashy debut last year. If Google can do a set-top box right and make it easy to integrate into the entertainment center, it has a decent shot in a still-immature market.