App Store downloads for the iPod Touch were 1,000 percent higher on Friday, Christmas Day, than the average of the three previous Fridays in December, according to a report released Monday by research firm Flurry. Downloads for the newest generation, the iPod Touch 3G, soared more than 900 percent on Christmas due to the flood of iTunes gift cards.

There are estimated 58 million iPhone and iPod Touch devices on the market, about 40 percent of those, or 24 million, are iPod Touch devices, according to another Flurry report. App Store downloads for the iPod Touch jumped past those for the iPhone for the first time, outpacing them by 172 percent. The trend continued the following day, with iPod Touch downloads on December 26 exceeding those for the iPhone by 104 percent. The volume in overall App Store downloads also grew by more than 50 percent in December.

Google’s Android Market can’t compare with the App Store at this point, but its recent download volume should offer Android vendors some holiday cheer. December downloads from the Android Market store grew by more than 20 percent over November. Downloads for Motorola’s Droid, in particular, rose 93 percent on Christmas Day compared with the three previous Fridays of the month. The Droid also captured 48 percent of all download volume versus other top Android devices, including the myTouch 3G, G1, and the HTC Hero).

Though Android may always play second fiddle to Apple, at least in the foreseeable future, that doesn’t mean the Android Market can’t have a significantly good business, notes Farago. Flurry predicts that by the end of next year, 150,000 apps will be available for Android phones, up from around 20,000 to 25,000 now.