Is there any way to increase the number of items in the iphone tab bar beyond five? I know that it can create a "More..." tab, but it seems excessive for just one more tab.
I have an app which needs six (Alternatively I will have to do some deep meditation to get rid of one).
No. This is a hard coded limit in the UITabBarController class. The View Controller Programming Guide makes several references to only being able to display 5 tabs at a time.
If you really want this functionality, you'll have to create a replacement to UITabBarController yourself.