This American company was just getting the ball rolling when it acquired Redbox Automated Retail in February. Since then, Coinstar, which processed more than $3 billion in coins in 2008, has announced a 156-percent jump in revenue in the first quarter, a nationwide redbox-placement deal with the Albertson’s grocery chain, a $460 million movie-distribution deal with Sony and an agreement with Kroger to increase its coin-counting kiosk footprint by more than 2,000.

Coinstar also made a smart strategic move when it chose in September to offload its entertainment-services business line, which included gumball machines, children’s rides and video games in an effort to concentrate on its self-service strategy.

“It’s clear to us that our core strength is in the area of automated retail,” Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said in the company’s second-quarter earnings call in August. “The combination of retailer demand, consumer adoption, our core competencies and opportunities for innovation all point to this as being a sustainable platform for future growth.”