Yes, there is currently no supported way of adding a badge to a UITableView Cell. In this example, it is most likely a custom subview which contains an image and UILabel.
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                  Matthew Bischoff
                   2009-06-23 21:36:21
                
              
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            (Commenting here because I don't have enough rep to do it the "proper" way:)
@Matthew: I find it hard to believe that there isn't a standard way to put a badge in table view cells, since there are so many apps that do it, and their display is virtually identical. Given that, I find it discouraging that Apple's sample code doesn't include an example on how to do this very thing.
EDIT: I found this site that explains how to implement number badges. Hope that helps.
                  Critical Failure
                   2009-10-17 17:41:25
                
              
                
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            There's an open source project that does just this. Check it out: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/01/07/iphone-devsugar-simple-table-badges/
                  Mansi
                   2010-07-20 22:03:47