Proving yet again that Apple often leads and then others follow, a number of consumer electronics makers are taking a page from the iPhone’s wildly popular App Store in an effort to reinvent the television.

San Francisco Chronicle has a report out today shining the light on how companies such as Yahoo, Adobe and Roku are encouraging developers to build apps that are capable of running on TVs. For their part, Roku this week began rolling out a free update that enables their Channel Store, bringing ten new services to their tiny box that began its life strictly as a Netflix player, including Pandora, Facebook Photos and Flickr.

“This is a major transition happening with TVs,” explains Vizio vice president Matthew McRae. “This is the next evolution, from a display that sits on the wall to a product you interact with.”

Yahoo’s own Widget Channel has led to almost 20 applications built right into certain TV models, with early apps including CBS, Facebook, USA Today Sports and a fantasy football app called Rallycast. Yahoo senior director of marketing Russ Schafer said the apps create a TV experience more akin to the iPhone.

But there are many hurdles to cross before a direct comparison to Apple’s App Store can be made. For one, the market is being fractured with content from different sources and using different methods, among them Adobe’s ubiquitous Flash. Input is always a problem where the TV is concerned, although Vizio is pushing to solve that problem with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard on some of its upcoming remotes.

Finally, content built directly into televisions means you’re committing to one system at the time of purchase. “It’s a pretty big decision buying a $1,500 flat screen,” remarks Roku vice president of marketing Chuck Seiber.

For their part, Apple is rumored to be taking their own plunge into Internet-connected television in 2011, according to AppleInsider. Their unit, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes, would have a DVR and home media center functionality built right into the set, capable of allowing recorded TV shows to automatically sync wirelessly with other devices in the home, including Macs, iPhones and iPods.