I've tried, but I haven't successfully run OS/X in VMware. I do know someone who's successfully developed iPhone apps on a hackintosh, but getting your hackintosh set up is quite difficult.
I'm in the same boat, I don't want to shell out foir a Mac until I know I'm comfortable with the toolchain, and I'd like to get a feel for iPhone development using my current hardware. Interested to hear of others experiences.
