Google has produced an app that lets you customise the little green Android to create a personalised avatar. The real question is why?

Google has created and made available for free a "fun" little app that allows you to create an Android avatar that you can use in all sorts of ways.

Starting from the familiar logo you can choose skin color, hair style and color, clothes, shoes, glasses. You can then alter the body shape - stretch the body or legs, make the head and body wider or narrower. There's also a randomise option for creating weird and wonderful characters.

Lucy?

Once you are pleased with your avatar you can save it with a name it and share it with your contacts - you can even use it as your Facebook profile picture.

The only question that remains to be answered is why? Has Google suddenly decided that image is everything and it's time to get its Android message to the end user? Building a brand by avatar is an interesting idea. The app developers have even gone to the trouble of producing a movie.

More information

Androidify site