A mobile device, which has internet connectivity and several input/output devices, includes a mobile universal remote controller (MURC) and an appliance lifecycle module. The MURC controls several appliances of different types from different vendors and the lifecycle module provides connectivity between a user of the mobile device and one of several appliance-lifecycle service providers through the input/output devices. An appliance lifecycle management server includes several appliance lifecycle databases, an access controller, and a plurality of flow handlers. The databases receive and store lifecycle information about appliances controlled by the MURCs. The access controller assigns roles and access permissions to the MURC and to server providers that access the server. The flow handlers provide a subset of the information according to the assigned roles and permissions to the MURCs and server providers and include enabling access of a selected service provider to temporarily control one of the appliances via the MURC.