Apple’s newest more-than-just-a-phone device is called the iPhone 3G S — and there’s a special reason for tacking on that “S”:

With some applications launching on the new iPhone at twice the speed they would launch on its predecessors, Apple says the new device will be its fastest-running smartphone. It’s called the “iPhone 3G S” — the “S” stands for “speed.”

Speed kills, and sells, so you might as well signify it right in the name. In other words, Apple has adopted Detroit’s formula for conjuring up new car model names:

[Naming firm professional George] Frazier speculates that it’s no accident that carmakers especially like to use the letters S, E or X in various combinations.

But there’s a far greater sin in car naming, as far as some experts are concerned. Automakers commit it when they rely on meaningless strings of letters.

“I am totally unimpressed at slapping a few letters onto an existing name, and saying that’s a new version,” says Steven Rivkin, founder of Rivkin & Associates, a marketing and communications firm in Glen Rock, New Jersey. “But I will grant you that when Mercedes first brought out the S-Class and BMW brought out the 3 Series, that had meaning.”

Not that emulating the automobile industry seems like a wise move these days, especially when it comes to product marketing. Still, I look forward to the forthcoming iPhone lettered-class versions, which, according to the above, should be the “3G E” and the “3G X”. And probably include racing stripes and spoilers, to boot.