Setting background color of a table view cell on iPhone

Add this method to your table view delegate:

#pragma mark UITableViewDelegate
- (void)tableView: (UITableView*)tableView 
  willDisplayCell: (UITableViewCell*)cell 
forRowAtIndexPath: (NSIndexPath*)indexPath
{
    cell.backgroundColor = indexPath.row % 2 
        ? [UIColor colorWithRed: 0.0 green: 0.0 blue: 1.0 alpha: 1.0] 
        : [UIColor whiteColor];
    cell.textLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    cell.detailTextLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
}