A year ago, reports surfaced that Huawei was developing its own mobile operating system to reduce its reliance on Google in the smartphone world. Despite the failure of similar efforts by other Chinese companies like Baidu and Alibaba, new reports indicate that Huawei – which is targeting a number one spot in the smartphone market within five years – is still pursuing this aim. According to website The Information, Huawei is “secretly developing an alternative mobile operating system, according to three people briefed about the project”, the objective being “to hedge its bets against Google’s control of Android”. The Chinese company has recruited an Apple designer to revamp the skin it overlays on vanilla Android to give its increasingly successful…