> What’s next? Well you can extend your app by adding payment options, email notifications, user feedback. . .
Aren't those core features of AirBnB? That's like saying "Next, you build the entire application." So you really haven't built a clone at all, you've just built an empty shell with a tiny fraction of the functionality.
OP wrote this post as a demonstration of how to get a native ios app prototype up and running quickly using tools like app design vault and stackmob, not in order to make any comments about airbnb or to actually try to make a full business out of this clone. The basic Airbnb interface/data structure was simply used as an example framework for the author to show off the tools and workflow.
I do think that an adjustment to the title would help to clear up the confusion around this -- this is not the only post in this thread making a similar criticism.
I'm fighting the urge to say "no shit".
"Luckily, with the availability of backend services and tools like StackMob, you can fairly quickly come up with a very functional app in a matter of hours."
It's not a functional app unless it has all of the back-end structures that make the actual thing an 'application'.
The basic Airbnb interface/data structure was simply used as an example framework for the author to show off the tools and workflow.
That was implied, but not stated, hence the criticism. Hyperbole wins again!
The entire post is not a "Hey, fuck BnB, we can do it in 2 hours!". It's about how you can quickly iterate an application using StackMob.
It's a tech demo, showing off StackMob, not putting down BnB.
Christ. :/
EDIT - I'm glad this is off the front page. This etiquette kick that HN is on is really tiresome. None of you or me (except maybe pg) are the arbiters of what defines polite discourse here. And shame on me for getting dragged into it. The policy I strive towards is that if it's a bad comment (egregiously wrong, trolling, etc) I downvote, if it's a good comment I upvote, and if it's interesting and I have something interesting to add I upvote and reply. It's not the worst policy.
If I write a blog post on how to find and fix leaks in single-page JS apps in various browsers, the top post shouldn't be the one complaining about how Chrome takes more memory than Firefox. Comments like that are certainly on topic because memory leaks end up using more memory by definition. The problem is that those kind of comments are too generic to improve anything for anyone but incite enough vitriol to get voted to the top. The top post should be the one finding faults with my leak handling practices and suggesting better methods of doing the same.
Then the title should say that.
If you dupe people into reading your article by using a misleading headline, you should be held accountable for it.
Of course the main feature of AirBnB and the large copycats is the market penetration. Nobody cares if you have a fancy backend or e.g. a node.js based mobile app. It's about active users and transactions.
Not to mention no time at all was spent (counted) on the app design and code regarding the logic for layouts.