I got a week into the game I've just been doing for someone, before finding that it ran like a pig using UIImageViews, Core Animation, etc, and OpenGL was just too much to try and take in at the time. The deadline was fixed (the launch of a movie!), so without the cocos2d framework and community, I'd have been stuffed good and proper!
So thank you to everyone who contributes to these forums, and thanks to Riq, and anyone else who has contributed code to this project. I'm now looking forward to making a start on a new personal project, using chipmunk, or box2d.
Anyway, check out the game (Pig Chase) if you get a chance (not sure what countries it will be released in, as it's not me who's submitting it). It's a simple little freebie, but addictive and good fun.
Cheers,
D.