An interesting new application domain for handheld devices may be represented by Ambient Intelligence (AmI), where they can be used as intermediaries between us and our surrounding environment. Thus, the devices, which always accompany us, will behave as electronic butlers who assist us in our daily tasks, by interacting with the smart objects (everyday objects augmented with computational services) in our whereabouts. In order to achieve such goal, this paper proposes an AmI-enabling framework providing two main functions: a) facilitate the development and deployment of smart objects and b) transform mobile devices into universal remote controllers of those smart objects.