Tailored application or service may be delivered via a communication device to a number of subscribers in a manner that avoids having to store individual copies of a service profile on the device for each subscriber receiving the application or service. Specifically, a packet is received requesting delivery of the application or service from the subscriber at a communication device. In response, the communication device retrieves a subscriber context, which references policies that describe each of the applications and services available to the subscriber. The application or service requested by the packet is compared with the policies referenced by the subscriber context to identify any matching policies. Subsequently, the requested application or service is delivered to the subscriber via the communication device according to the matching policies as described by a service profile. This service profile is accessible for describing the application or service when requested by other subscribers. In addition, in some cases each application or service is described by a single set of polices in the service profile. In these instances, each request for the application or service is fulfilled according to that single set of policies.