Sure -- in fact, the entire class could probably be eliminated, the way it is now -- but my thinking is that in this case, since it's an "example" customization showing how one can easily subclass RZLoginEmailViewController (i.e. along with a custom NIB, in this case, the one with the pretty background-image) -- we might keep in the 'boilderplate' v/c stuff that folks are accustomed to seeing -- so they can override things and/or drop-in their own code (e.g. in init, viewDidLoad, etc). We could also throw some kind of further "customization" into this example class, e.g. a view-animation or something like I did for MyCustomLoginViewController -- to make it more clear that you can "do stuff" in there, while also inheriting the usual functionality (email form-validation, sign-up form, etc).