Speculation about a Google-branded Web browser has been re-ignited after talk of a Firefox-based project in the works.

Google's registration of Gbrowser.com on April 26, 2004 spawned a great deal of speculation that Google was about to enter the Web browser market and attempt to dethrone the current king, Microsoft and the Internet Explorer Web browser.

It was a logical leap. After all, Google launched its Gmail beta service with 1000 megabytes of e-mail storage on April 1 -- I, like many others initially thought it was an April Fool's joke, especially after reading the tone  and language (Search is Number Two Online Activity – Email is Number One; "Heck, Yeah," Say Google Founders) of the Gmail press release -- a few weeks before it registered the Gbrowser.com domain.

It's clear that Google has ambitions, aspirations and plans for the most valuable piece of electronic real estate, the end-user desktop, which it demonstrated earlier this month after launching its Google Desktop Search beta.

Google on the desktop for the most popular applications and activities -- e-mail, Web browsing, and search -- would give the company a strong base from which it could challenge incumbent behemoth Microsoft. But don't expect Microsoft to sit still. With its own search technology poised for release, and its grip on e-mail and Web browsing through Outlook and Internet Explorer, you can be sure that Microsoft is listening to rumors and watching Google's moves closely.

MozillaNews - Google's Browser Plans


via Slashdot | Google-branded Firefox?