Alibaba mapping a future filled with smart devices

While Laiwang, the equivalent of WeChat run by Alibaba, hasn't had much of an impact on the mobile Internet front, AutoNavi may come to the rescue, said Dong Xu, a senior analyst with Analysys International.

"One scenario is to utilize the mapping services on its mobile meal-order app Taodiandian, which shows users the physical location of vendors," said Dong.

Customers can seek restaurants based on proximity, download vendor coupons and order food for pickup. They can swipe the QR code upon arrival at the restaurants and pay via credit card or the Alipay Wallet, Alibaba's mobile payment app.

The largest number of daily orders made by phone app exceeded 30,000, according to statistics released by the Taodiandian team in January.

Alibaba's offline forays include a payment platform for cab rides using the Alipay Wallet app or facilitating the purchase of movie tickets at Wanda and Jinyi cinemas with sound-wave technology.

In the taxi-hailing market, Alibaba offered 500 million yuan in cash rebates to users who downloaded the Kuaidi app, in which the company has a stake.

Tencent is also subsidizing a rival app.

"It's definitely good news for Chinese customers who are looking for more O2O integration so they can quickly convert their stored e-cash into tangible goods and services," said Sun Hongchao, a commentator at Internet company NetEase Inc.

According to Sun, Alibaba is well aware of the importance of offline penetration as it builds logistics network Cainiao and heavily invests in group-buying site Meituan and micro-blogging server Sina Weibo.

But it is the sudden rise of WeChat that has propelled it to pick up the pace.

"Tencent is trying to build WeChat into a multipurpose, one-stop platform with e-commerce, gaming, financial services and other capabilities," Sun said.

"Its still-nascent mapping service will soon take off as more rely on smartphones to surf the Web," Sun said, adding that in the mobile Internet age, it is the company that has users, rather than customers, that rules.