AppleInsider Staff
A total of 12 Coach retail outlets — Â four of them in New York City — will carry the luxury fashion brand's new Apple Watch bands starting this Sunday, a day before Apple's WWDC keynote.
The bands will only be available in those dozen stores at launch, and will not be available online, according to a Coach sales associate who spoke with Haute Ecriture. Coach's California retail shops in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa will join its four Manhattan locations.
Outside of California and New York, the bands will also be available at the Coach stores in Las Vegas, Nev.; Dallas, Tex.; and King of Prussia, Penn.
Word first surfaced earlier this week that Coach will offer three Apple Watch band styles in three different colors, for a total of nine possible configurations. The bands will be available in Leather Strap with Charms, Wild Beats Camo, and Tea Rose Applieque, and will cost $150 apiece.
Still unknown is whether Apple had a hand in the design or creation of the bands. Apple did partner with Hermes for a special edition of the Apple Watch that launched in February, but the Coach products are simply bands sold separate from the Watch.
Apple will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference with a keynote presentation next Monday, where it's expected to announce new products, which could include new bands for the Apple Watch. It's also expected that a next-generation version of the watchOS wearable operating system will also be revealed to developers at the software-focused event.
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8 Comments
And the lines outside the stores can start to form ..... Just kidding.
Fine idea. Not sure about the implementation. I hope this isn't hyped too much. Next up, partnering with a has-been celeb on a HomeKit enabled vibrator.
Current 3rd-party bands focus on fashion.
I believe/hope that's a stop-gap... and eventually Apple will enable the diagnostics port to empower 3rd-party bands that provide actual functionality (power, display, health funtions, etc.)
Normally I would just post a {sigh...} But AI says I have to post more than a single word. So let me add a {SMH}
I know the Apple Watch has its challenges. I have one and I know some of the struggles, but let me say one thing that Apple got right with coming into this space...the watch bands. I very much believe they set the Apple Watch apart from all other wearable devices out there. The bands feel good on the wrist and look damn nice too. The Apple Watch will get better as time goes on without a doubt, and once that happens these bands will seal the deal for purchasers of wearable devices. I'm so happy Apple incorporated that right into their plan right from the beginning.