Despite Google’s past denials, the company has registered the gbrowser.com domain name. While that isn’t proof Google is crafting a browser, it certainly shows that the company is keeping its options open.

Google continues to play coy in response to questions about the browser rumor. A company spokesperson issued a non-denial, stating, “Google is always working on all kinds of exciting things and we have nothing to announce at this time.”

What could Google accomplish with a browser? Would it seriously impact Microsoft’s market share? Hardly, but it could eliminate a reliance on Firefox and give Google a proprietary platform to improve the performance of its Google Apps suite, which includes Gmail, Talk, Calendar and Docs & Spreadsheets. Google Apps will become increasingly important as the company seeks to sell the collaboration software to more and more businesses.

While this sounds like a rerun of the Microsoft story from the 1990s, the model is Web-based and therefore different. While Microsoft sells its collaboration software in downloadable packages, Google hosts the Apps businesses use on its own server. But to make Apps successful, Google requires its client’s faith and trust. So a Google browser could be a double-edged sword, giving users great performance, but allowing Google to sink its hooks deeper into its customers, giving the firm much more control over a business using its products.

So, is Google building a browser? Remembering how Internet Explorer gave Microsoft tremendous control over the way people accessed the Web, perhaps a better question might be whether or not we want it to.