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 , 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 , 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. <EOS>