If I'm using Socket.IO via an Obj-C lib, is there a point to taking a look at this? Should the Socket.IO community look at integrating this as the engine behind the client on Obj-C, or is there little/no benefit?

I'm unsure what you mean by "Socket.IO via an Obj-C lib". Could you send a link? It looks like Socket.IO is node (which I don't believe you can use in iOS).

Here's a link to a socket.io client library in Obj-C:

https://github.com/pkyeck/socket.IO-objc

He means communicating with a Socket.IO server from Obj-C (most probably also using web sockets but speaking the Socket.IO protocol).