Here are your Apple rumors and news items for Friday:

550K Androids Each Day: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), the persistent thorn in the side of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) smartphone business, reported late Thursday that 135 million phones using the Android operating system have been activated so far — at a rate of 550,000 a day. According to Apple Insider, Google was reporting 500,000 activations each day at the end of June. Apple has sold a total of 200 million devices that use its operating platform. using its iOS operating system.

LTE Shuffle: While Apple has repeatedly said that the new iPhone due out later this year won’t be compatible with Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T’s  (NYSE:T) 4G networks, it’s been heavily rumored that another updated model iPhone expected in 2012 will be. If so, there will have to be multiple models of the same phone. According to PC Magazine, Verizon has said that any 4G phones sold on its network won’t be compatible with other so-called LTE networks because the phones will be on different frequencies.

MacBook Air Lands Next Week: Apple has been expected to release an updated version of its ultra-light, ultra-popular MacBook Air laptop for months now. All Things Digital is saying that its sources are now indicating that both products will be out next week, likely right after Apple reports its earnings for the second quarter of 2011.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.