is it possible to update UIButton title/text programmatically?
I solved the problem just setting the title parameter for UIControlStateNormal, and it automatically works on the other states. The problem seems to be when you set another UIControlState.
[myButton setTitle: @"myTitle" forState: UIControlStateNormal];
Do you have the button specified as an IBOutlet in your view controller class, and is it connected properly as an outlet in Interface Builder (ctrl drag from new referencing outlet to file owner and select your UIButton object)? That's usually the problem I have when I see these symptoms.
Edit: While it's not the case here, something like this can also happen if you set an attributed title to the button, then you try to change the title and not the attributed title.