So the news floating around the VoIP part of the blogosphere is that the long-awaited and long-debated “iPhone” was released yesterday… but it turns out NOT to be from Apple! Instead, as noted by Gizmodo, the trademark for “iPhone” belongs to, of all people, Cisco! ( Tip of the hat to Tom Keating, where I first read it and saw this graphic.)

On one level, the Linksys press release seems to be mostly a re-branding exercise for their existing “CIT” Cordless Internet Telephone series but as noted over on the Skype Gear blog, there actually is some real product news mixed in with all the fixation on the name.

The CIT400 is a DECT-based cordless phone that does not require a PC to run Skype. That apparently is the function of the grey box “base station” in the picture. You plug it into your network and your phone is off and running. It can apparently also plug into your landline to give you true “dual-mode” operation. Very much like the Dualphone 3088 and other similar products.

On the other hand, the WIP320 is a true WiFi handset that again does not require a PC. So it joins the other phones…