
The House of Hermès has teamed up with Apple to bring a fashionable, exclusive wristband collection to the Apple Watch for the company's customer base (that now has additional color options). Apple just started selling its Hermès wristbands as standalone items this week, and now, Apple has expanded this new collection in a total of 17 cities. The lucky cities are as follows: Washington, D.C., Portland, Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas, Bellevue, and Chicago in the US. As for European cities, Manchester, Madrid, Florence, Brussels, and Barcelona are the fortunate recipients of this exclusive collection. Dubai, United Arab Emirates customers can now purchase the Hermes collection, as can citizens of Guangzhou, Macau, and Shenzhen, China. Melbourne, Australia, isn't left out, either.
Apple seems intent on bringing its Apple Watch models and wristbands to as many cities as possible in order to encourage sales in the smartwatch market. One detractor from sales concerns fashion, the ability to mix and match wristbands with watch colors as customers see fit. The typical colors have become dull for a number of customers, and the traditional rubber wristband is fine for athletic and outdoor activities but doesn't look to be fashionable for a number of customers who want a little more elegance in their wrist wearable experience.
The Apple Watch is popular among teens, but analysts say that Apple sold 10 million Apple Watch models last year and will only sell 7 million or so this year. The decrease in Apple Watch sales can be attributed to a number of factors, but some customers may very well be waiting on an Apple Watch 2 release before dropping their money on their wrists.