Google’s Android Market application store has hit the one billion download milestone and is fast approaching 100,000 apps on offer, according to analytics provider Androlib. At time of press, Androlib was estimating that 1,064,493,000 apps had been downloaded from the store, less than two years since the launch of Android Market. That equates to  over 100 worldwide downloads every second. The analytics firm notes that Android Market currently boasts about 92,000 applications (compared to 5,000 a year ago) and will surpass 100,000 by the end of this month. Android developers have already submitted 11,090 apps to the store this month, compared to a total June submission of 15,288. Androlib does stress though that its data is based on its own estimates and does not come from official sources (Google).

Android Market trails Apple’s App Store in terms of downloads and app offerings (5 billion and 225,000, respectively), but the ubiquity of the Android platform will see it close the gap quickly. Indeed, Android now accounts for 13 percent of the US smartphone OS market, according to data issued last week by market research firm comScore, and the platform was the only one to grow its share in the period. A recent survey issued by market analysis and strategic advisory firm VisionMobile also noted that close to 60 percent of all mobile developers created software on Android during the first half of 2010 (more than any other rival platform, including iPhone). And in a move that will only serve to boost Android Market, earlier this week Google introduced App Inventor for Android, a free software tool enabling users to create their own Android applications regardless of previous programming experience.