Apria Healthcare launched a new respiratory product line in February 2002. The new product was marketed to all home healthcare service providers including Aprias competitors in markets where they did not compete head to head. The result was that their competitors began to expand into Aprias market areas through advanced service offerings and merging with competitors in other markets. This resulted in Aprias competitors gaining market shares and their stock increasing while Apria started to show a loss in their market share and profit margin.