While Airbnb is already trying to attract more travelers to its platform with the introduction of experiences, the home rental provider hasn’t lost focus towards the development of the platform itself. The robustness and intuitiveness of the service are equally important as the growth of the user base or experience lovers.
With regards to the same, the company now aims to further expand its platform and simplify the creation of new solutions with help from developers. It has today been revealed that Airbnb has acquired its long-time React Native partner, Deco Software, a small team of developers who have created an integrated development environment (IDE) to build React Native apps. This means the developers and designers can now work more closely to build native mobile apps — compatible with both Android and iOS devices.
This means the developers and designers can now work more closely to build native mobile apps — compatible with both Android and iOS devices. Deco IDE bridges the wide gaping hole, which sometimes exists between the two sets of teams at any technology giant. It enables the development process to be cohesive and restricted in one location, making it easier to access, collaborate and contribute.
As confirmed by Airbnb itself, this transaction is more of an acqui-hire. No financial deeds of the same have been dispensed by either of the two involved parties but Deco’s team of around five employees will be joining Airbnb. They will be working on the Design Tools and Experience Architecture teams at the home rental company. It has already worked with Airbnb’s engineering team on the overall design and use of React Native to develop the app experience.
Speaking on the acquisition in an official statement, Deco’s founding team writes:
We found an ally and partner in Airbnb. As we began to collaborate with the teams at Airbnb that are working on design tools and React Native, it became clear that Airbnb was the perfect place for us to continue our journey.
As for Deco Software, this San Francisco-headquartered company was founded by Gavin Owens, David Chen, Spencer Liolios, and Devin Abbott in 2015. They developed an IDE to further slash down on the time required to develop mobile apps using React Native. There is currently no info on whether Deco raised any funding for the development of their integrated development environment.
It enables the developers to edit code and make necessary changes through context-appropriate controls like sliders or color pickers. It also makes it easier to search for existing React components and will now be available for everyone. Deco IDE has now been open sourced and is no longer a product offering by the acquired company. This will be extremely beneficial for the developer community, especially those who were looking for a feature-packed React Native coding tool.
This is Airbnb’s fourteenth acquisition. Prior to this, the home rental giant had acquired social, group-bill splitting platform Tilt back in February of this year. It was also picked up to further the development of the platform rather than the audience. This acquisition is aimed at simplifying payments during a group travel but we’re still to see it being integrated into Airbnb’s platform.
Airbnb doesn’t aim to stay restricted to its $30 billion market but expand and serve the people, its users or travelers, as a full-fledged travel planner for all their trips. The company had just recently minted a fresh $1 billion at a modestly higher valuation of $31 billion. It has recently also launched a Trips feature, which turns the platform into a one-stop travel booking destination and enables you to book experiences — local and traditional ones, that connect you to the native culture.
