A method executed by a server remote from a vehicle, the server communicating with the vehicle using a portable mobile device, the method comprising: receiving a wirelessly transmitted request from the vehicle for a particular application to utilize a user interface powered by the vehicle, wherein the portable mobile device is coupled to the user interface, the user interface having a plurality of vehicle user interface resources (24, 25), wherein the received request includes an application identifier for said particular application, as well as current vehicle status information indicating the current vehicle condition; following receipt of the request from the vehicle, accessing a stored mapping of application identifiers to vehicle conditions, wherein the vehicle conditions include at least a first condition of the vehicle powered but not moving and a second condition of the vehicle moving, and wherein the mapping includes an indication of vehicle user interface resources permitted to be accessed by a particular application for a given vehicle condition specific to a particular user application program; comparing the received request to the mapping and identifying vehicle user interface resources of the user interface permitted according to the comparison; signaling control software on the vehicle to permit the particular application to access only the permitted vehicle user interface resources of the vehicle user interface; probing the vehicle user interface to correlate the vehicle user interface to a particular one of a plurality of vehicle user interface configurations; transmitting packets corresponding to the particular one of a plurality of graphical user interfaces that has been selected based on a result of said probing to the portable mobile device to be forwarded to the vehicle; and causing the vehicle user interface to display the transmitted graphical user interface. receiving a wirelessly transmitted request from the vehicle for a particular application to utilize a user interface powered by the vehicle, wherein the portable mobile device is coupled to the user interface, the user interface having a plurality of vehicle user interface resources (24, 25), wherein the received request includes an application identifier for said particular application, as well as current vehicle status information indicating the current vehicle condition; following receipt of the request from the vehicle, accessing a stored mapping of application identifiers to vehicle conditions, wherein the vehicle conditions include at least a first condition of the vehicle powered but not moving and a second condition of the vehicle moving, and wherein the mapping includes an indication of vehicle user interface resources permitted to be accessed by a particular application for a given vehicle condition specific to a particular user application program; comparing the received request to the mapping and identifying vehicle user interface resources of the user interface permitted according to the comparison; signaling control software on the vehicle to permit the particular application to access only the permitted vehicle user interface resources of the vehicle user interface; probing the vehicle user interface to correlate the vehicle user interface to a particular one of a plurality of vehicle user interface configurations; transmitting packets corresponding to the particular one of a plurality of graphical user interfaces that has been selected based on a result of said probing to the portable mobile device to be forwarded to the vehicle; and causing the vehicle user interface to display the transmitted graphical user interface.