Google eyeing voice, SMB market with Google Voice desktop client?

Google is soliciting user input on how to improve its Google Voice offering, particularly for mobile users. According to our surveys, what users want most is something Google’s management said they weren’t going to offer (right now, at least): a Skype-like VoIP desktop client.

We think Google could grab a big chunk of the voice market and even take a bite out of the SMB space with such an offering, and we hear that there is still a lot of debate within Google on the matter. The problem is that a desktop client would definitely put Google at odds with the telcos, and Google is trying not to create more distrust in that space — the company’s early and aggressive position on net neutrality has already created enough. We think Google will release a desktop client for Voice, very likely this year or in the first quarter of 2011.