It’s often common to see new products emerge from the recovering economy as the recession begins to retreat and new avenues of financial growth are sought out. In the past, ideas such as the iPod and Excite.com have become big business right out of a recession. Many of these ideas have grown out of advances in technology, while others are often retreads of old ideas made new through the use of innovation and practices. In the case of Coke’s Freestyle machines, both cases are true.

The Freestyle machines themselves work essentially like an old soda jerk, where you can select your flavor, and the machine makes the drink for you on the spot. Technology common in measuring tiny doses of chemotherapy drugs is used to release digitally-controlled amounts of concentrate flavor from dozens of plastic cartridges.

My first thought was that mixing soda using the Freestyle machine seemed a lot like mixing Kamakazis at my local pizza hangout as a kid. Mix all the flavors together and see what happens. No two are the same. Watching the video, however, reveals that the product seems more along the lines of a Vanilla Coke machine…just a couple different options…I’m sure so people don’t accidentally mix something disgusting together that they don’t really want to pay for. That disappointed me a little, but still, the idea of a soda machine that can mix so many flavors together right in front of your eyes definitely has a wow factor inherent in it’s use. Just see below:

The machines themselves were created by the people who designed Ferrari racing cars and were made in a classic style reminisent of old 50′s diners and drive ins. The Freestyle fountains have proved so popular that they have had difficulty keeping up with demand due to slow software and problems with spill over. The machine also charges over 30% more for Freestyle Coke products than normal fountain drinks.

Beginning this month new fountain drinks are being released to a number of markets throughout the United States with Coke stating that it would prefer to release the product gradually across the United States.

All in all, it’s an interesting product from a company, Coke, who has a history of innovation in the soft drink business. It should be interesting to see how this product turns out for them.