Here are your Apple rumors and news items for Tuesday:

The New Antenna Is Here!: It looks like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will avoid another Antennagate scandal. The Wall Street Journal said Tuesday that the iPhone 4 debuting Thursday on Verizon’s (NYSE:VZ) network features a different antenna design that of the iPhone 4, which, when it came out on AT&T’s (NYSE:T) network in June 2010, was criticized by users who said the device dropped calls because of faulty design. Apple later offered bumper cases to fix the issue.

Android Extends Lead: A new report from research group comScore shows that Apple is continuing to lose ground to Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system in the U.S. smartphone market, at least in terms of operating system penetration. The smartphone market grew by 60% in the last quarter of 2010, up to 63.2 million users by the end of December. Apple’s market share grew to 25%, up from 24.3% at the end of the third quarter; Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), meanwhile, lost ground, as the BlackBerry’s share fell to 31.6% from 37.3%. Google’s Android jumped to 28.7% from a 21.4% share. At this rate, Google is likely to overtake Research In Motion by the end of March.

Next Stop, Grand Central: The New York Observer reported Tuesday that Apple is looking to open a fifth New York-based retail store, this time in the city’s Grand Central Station terminal. However, the paper’s “reliable sources” indicated that Apple has only just begun negotiating for the retail space, and talks have been only held in secret at this point. Apple would join other retailers like Gap’s (NYSE:GPS) Banana Republic and Kenneth Cole (NYSE:KCP) already located in the transit station.

At the time of publication, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.