Billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba, the dominant force in China's $1.6-trillion U.S. e-commerce market, may already have lost a battle with rival Tencent for the world's biggest mobile market.
While Alibaba Group Holding Ltd dominates in e-commerce, Tencent Holdings Ltd has taken over China's smartphone screens with its WeChat, or Weixin, social messaging platform.
It's a battle that is being more closely watched after Facebook Inc's $19-billion U.S. WhatsApp buy, and puts the spotlight on Ma's mobile strategy, especially as Alibaba winds up for a mega IPO that could value the company at close to $130 billion U.S.
The WhatsApp acquisition and that of mobile messaging firm Viber by Japan's Rakuten Inc have driven home this month how crucial mobile messaging platforms are to controlling user experience on smartphone screens.
Alibaba has been grappling with its mobile business in China, and its Laiwang mobile messaging app has yet to make a big impact - either as a chat app or a portal for mobile gaming. As of November, Laiwang had 10 million users, according to Alibaba. As of September,
Tencent's WeChat mobile messaging app had 272 million monthly active users, booking taxis, topping up phone credit and even investing in wealth management products.
Some observers say that's too big a catch-up for Alibaba.
Data from Chinese app store Wandoujia show that games released on WeChat rocketed to the top of their most-downloaded lists, suggesting the app's appeal goes well beyond messaging.
Forrester, a consultancy, forecasts that China will have more than 500 million smartphones this year.
