Last year around this time, Sonos introduced its Controller for iPhone, a free application that essentially turns the device into a remote control for any Sonos system. The software performed nearly all of the tasks of the $399 Sonos remote and drastically lowered the price of entry for the otherwise spendy wireless system.

A year later, Sonos is building on the success of that app, launching an all-in-one wireless music system specifically designed for it. The ZonePlayer S5, as the company calls it, encapsulates Sonos’s multi-component system in a single device that can be controlled by an Apple (AAPL) iPhone, iPod touch or computer.

It’s a sort of iPodless iPod speaker dock or, rather, an iPod speaker dock where the iPod can be carried with you. The S5 can stream music from the iTunes library of any computer or networked hard drive. And with five speakers–two tweeters, two three-inch midrange drivers and one 3.5-inch woofer–and a 5 Class-D digital amplifier, the sound is likely to fill a room pretty well. Priced at $399, the S5 is expected at market on Oct. 27.

Consumer electronics devices like these seem an odd shift in direction for a company whose core business has long been peddling switches and routers. But for Cisco it’s another step toward the end-to-end triple play solution for carrier networks and the digital home it’s been yammering on about since acquiring Scientific Atlanta in 2005. Question is, can a company whose name is synonymous with routers and switches expand its brand to include consumer electronics? Certainly, it’s no easy task. Said John MacFarlane, CEO of Sonos, the company that developed what’s now the gold standard in wireless digital stereo systems, “I don’t think that when they hear the name Cisco they think of great products in consumer electronics.”

Now, MacFarlane clearly has a horse in this race, but he speaks the truth. Cisco’s not a brand one expects to see in, say, Magnolia Audio Video. Which begs the question: Is a connected audio component really the best strategy here? “I can’t help but wonder why Cisco is not simply focusing on enabling the connectivity and distribution piece on the network rather than going for the end-point,” Jonathan Greene writes over at Atmasphere. “I’d rather have something neutral that provides access to content (and not just music, btw) where I want it–whether that’s in my house or pushed out to my mobile device. The limited info on the upcoming Cisco product seems to limit the usefulness to a connected audio component. These typically sit in your stereo rack connected to your home network and stream content through as though it was in your audio player. Sounds a lot like Sonos, AppleTV and quite a few other boxes that have been sold with considerably less success.”

A neat little feature, although why anyone would actively use it is beyond me. Text searches on Amazon Mobile–and Amazon’s iPhone-optimized site–are both easier and far, far faster. Why bother with the cumbersome “snap photo-submit photo-wait for Amazon to identify product in photo and its availability and price”?

What this application is clearly lacking and, frankly, just begging for, is a barcode scanner and real-time price comparison function. That would make it a killer app, indeed. And Snappr has proven barcode scanning on the iPhone is possible. The device just needs an improved camera for it to work….