We needed to do this due to the way React Native modules work. Our hacky solution for using a framework ended up falling apart due to it relying on symbols not getting stripped from the main application.
This static library is in its own Xcode project because rnpm links in *all* static libraries from a given Xcode project.
This doesn't appear to have been necessary and seems to sometimes cause an issue because the packager will start and look for a JS file that was just deleted.
The target dependencies are discovered implicitly, and removing the use of explicitly defined dependencies actually resolved a very odd bug with Xcode when building ReactExample.app for a device.
Ari Lazier
Scott Kyle