<P> Pre-orders for the Apple Watch began on April 10, 2015, with the official release on April 24 . </P> <P> Initially, the Apple Watch was not available at the Apple Store; beginning on April 10, 2015, customers could receive appointments for demonstrations and fitting, but the device was not in - stock for walk - in purchases, and had to be reserved and ordered online (however, sales representatives were able to assist in the process). CNET felt that this distribution model was designed to prevent Apple Store locations from having long line - ups due to the high demand . Selected Apple Watch models were available in - store at certain luxury boutiques and authorized Apple resellers in limited quantities . On June 4, 2015, Apple announced that it did plan to stock Apple Watch models at its retail locations . On August 24, 2015, during an earnings call, Best Buy announced that it would begin stocking Apple Watch at its retail stores by the end of September . Both T - Mobile US and Sprint also announced plans to offer Apple Watch through its retail stores . </P> <P> On September 9, 2015, in Apple's Special Event, Apple launched a new collection of Apple Watch in collaboration with Hermès . This new collection, Apple Watch Hermès, comes in stainless steel body with finely crafted leather bands in distinctive styles from Hermès, including the Single Tour, Double Tour and Cuff models . Initially, Apple Watch Hermès was only available in selected retail stores of Apple and Hermès, but it became available for purchase at Apple's website on January 22, 2016 . New colors for Apple - designed bands were also announced, along with a release date for watchOS 2 update . </P> <P> The device was not branded as "iWatch" (which would put it in line with its pre-existing product lines such as iPod, iPhone, and iPad) due to trademark conflicts in certain territories; in the United States, the "iWatch" trademark is owned by OMG Electronics--who was crowdfunding a device under the same name, and is owned in the European Union by Irish firm Probendi . In July 2015, Probendi sued Apple Inc. for trademark infringement, arguing that through keyword advertising on the Google search engine, it caused advertising for the Apple Watch to appear on search results pages when users searched for the trademarked term "iWatch". </P>

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