We don’t know what Canonical will launch next week at CES. For its part, Canonical is saying that it will show the latest in desktop, cloud and demonstrations on Ubuntu One, plus an exclusive Ubuntu concept design which will be announced during the show.

My bet: Canonical is leveraging its Unity UI to work as a TV. It may not launch at CES. A tablet is a possibility, too. But at some point a Unity TV is bound to make it to market.

Unity is hated by many of the Ubuntu faithful but meant for the mobile masses. Unity is Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth’s baby. He has stood behind it from the start. But ever since its launch, the UI has infuriated open-source developer who loved GNOME, which Unity replaced.

Unity is a clear departure from Ubuntu’s desktop world. It’s a 3D UI, it has flashy icons and a menu bar. It’s a touch-interface meant for a mobile world.

But can a Ubuntu TV stand up against Google TV and Apple TV? I bet it has a shot. Google TV is still impossible to use. The version control is a mess. It runs Android 3.0 but it does not support Hulu Plus. Of course Apple has the chance to dominate. Can you imagine Apple TV with Siri? But Apple TV still has people confused about how to set it up. Robert Scoble said he has Apple TV set up with his iPad or iPhone as a control which activates Apple Airplay, the wireless router. That in turn connects to Apple TV and through his stereo for audio. He says even the geeks at a party he had did not know how to do that.

It would be ironic if Canonical managed to produce an Internet TV that was easier to use than competitive products from Google and Apple. But the real Achilles heel could be a lack of Netflix support. As of now, Netflix Streaming will not run on Linux because Netflix relies on Silverlight for copy protection. Not even Moonlight, the Linux implemention of Silverlight, will make it work. Google secured a way to support Netflix Streaming on ChromeOS, but has not yet made the solution available for users of the Chrome/Chromium browsers on non-Google versions of Linux.

None the less, Ubuntu is a welcome addition to the ever commercially dominated offerings Apple and Google are presenting.

In the Apple and Google world, there’s the old school, always secret effort to develop a partner community for its proprietary offerings. It inevitably means a more commercial experience. The iTunes experience proves that. There is lots of indie media on iTunes and in the app store but the commercial presence glows bright and dominates those billions of screens that come on iPods, iPads and the nascent Apple TV.

Ubuntu TV, though refreshingly, is a different animal. It is actually being led by a group of Ubuntu developers. And Shuttleworth is showing his support. Here are some initial concept designs.

Finally, you better know that there are hardware providers would welcome an independent, open-source offering.

Canonical took a piece of the desktop market with Ubuntu. Can it do it again with Ubuntu TV? I always like the dark horse. That’s my nature. And this one from Ubuntu looks like it could have the making of a winner.