The Android team announced yesterday that the Android Market has hit 100,000 apps.  While still trailing the Apple App Store by almost 200,000, this is a significant milestone for Android.

However, some are surprised it took this long. The App Store reached the 100k mark in less than 500 days while it took the Market 733 days. One would think that this came from the hot start that Apple had compared to the Android adoption and that Market is just hitting its stride. One could think that, but gigaom.com plowed into the numbers and found that from June to October of this year, Apple’s App Store added about 417 apps a day while the Android Market averaged 294 a day.

Again, this is a bit surprising. The Android OS is featured on a variety of devices, developers can work with the SDK for free, they can develop from any type of computer they want (Apple requires that their apps are compiled on a Mac OS system) and there isn’t the barrier of an overly strict review process to put an app on the Market.

So why is Apple still gaining? It’s probably several things, but it really comes down to money. Developers and publishers feel that the App Store is currently a more lucrative place to sell their wares. iOS users have shown to be more willing to purchase apps while ad-driven apps are seen as the standard on Google’s platform.

With Android adoption rising, new devices coming along and recent sales numbers showing that Android devices are now outselling iOS devices, we’re sure to see that gap decrease. What this shows is that the mobile app market is very strong. Both Android and iOS are doing well and growing. This is an exciting time for developers with new opportunities around every corner.