How to set kerning in iPhone UILabel

I am developing an iPhone app, and I want to set kerning in UILabel. The code I've written (possibly around kCTKernAttributeName) seems to be in error. How might I approach fixing this?

NSMutableAttributedString *attStr;   
NSString *str = @"aaaaaaa";    
CFStringRef kern = kCTKernAttributeName;        
NSNumber *num = [NSNumber numberWithFloat: 2.0f];    
NSDictionary *attributesDict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject:num 
forKey:(NSString*)kern];        
[attStr initWithString:str attributes:attributesDict];      
CGRect frame1 = CGRectMake(0, 0, 100, 40);    
UILabel *label1 = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:frame1];    
label1.text = attStr    
[self.view addSubview:label1];

Old question, but you can do it now (easily).

NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString;
attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Please get wider"];
[attributedString addAttribute:NSKernAttributeName value:@5 range:NSMakeRange(10, 5)];
[self.label setAttributedText:attributedString];

enter image description here

For Nov 2013, Just to expand on this great answer, here's some totally typical code. Usually you'd set the font as well. Note in the comments the old-fashioned way using ordinary old .text. Hope it helps someone

NSString *yourText = @"whatever";

UILabel* label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,0,0)];

// simple approach with no tracking...
// label.text = yourText;
// [label setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Light" size:24]];

NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString;

attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:yourText];

[attributedString addAttribute:NSKernAttributeName
                         value:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:2.0]
                         range:NSMakeRange(0, [yourText length])];

[attributedString addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName
                         value:[UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Light" size:24]
                         range:NSMakeRange(0, [yourText length])];

label.attributedText = attributedString;

label.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];
label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
label.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentCenter;

[label sizeToFit];

Before:

before

After:

cafter

Here's a Swift 3 extension that let's you set a UILabel's kerning via code or storyboard:

extension UILabel {

    @IBInspectable var kerning: Float {
        get {
            var range = NSMakeRange(0, (text ?? "").count)
            guard let kern = attributedText?.attribute(NSAttributedStringKey.kern, at: 0, effectiveRange: &range),
                let value = kern as? NSNumber
                else {
                    return 0
            }
            return value.floatValue
        }
        set {
            var attText:NSMutableAttributedString

            if let attributedText = attributedText {
                attText = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: attributedText)
            } else if let text = text {
                attText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)
            } else {
                attText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "")
            }

            let range = NSMakeRange(0, attText.length)
            attText.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.kern, value: NSNumber(value: newValue), range: range)
            self.attributedText = attText
        }
    }
}

Demo usage:

myLabel.kerning = 3.0

or

enter image description here

The demo uses 3.0 kerning for drama, but I've found 0.1 - 0.8 tends to work well in practice.