Tom
Executive summary
"Tom" is an ambiguous name that most commonly points to three separate cultural or commercial entities: Talking Tom, the virtual pet and mobile-game franchise; Tom (Tom Cat) from the classic Tom and Jerry cartoons; and TomTom, the navigation technology company — each with distinct histories, audiences and products [1] [2] [3] [4]. Clarifying which "Tom" is meant matters because press, app stores and fan sites use the same short identifier for very different things [5] [6].
1. The viral phone friend: Talking Tom, the virtual pet that talks back
Talking Tom is a family-focused mobile franchise in which a virtual cat named Tom repeats user speech, can be cared for, dressed and sent on adventures, and appears across multiple top-rated apps marketed to kids and families; official app store listings and the franchise site position these games as casual, family-friendly entertainment with mini-games, pet care routines and customization [1] [2] [5]. The My Talking Tom 2 listing emphasizes daily routines, skills like playing drums or basketball, and collectible worlds and pets, and the Play Store copy explicitly pitches offline play and learning-through-play for children while noting some features may need internet access [2]. Outfit7’s broader Talking Tom & Friends portfolio is promoted as “fun & free family mobile games” by the franchise site, which frames the brand as multi-app and cross-generational nostalgia fodder [5] [6].
2. The cartoon heavyweight: Tom (Tom Cat) from Tom and Jerry
A separate, older "Tom" is Tom Cat — Thomas Jasper Cat Sr. — the animated cat protagonist of MGM’s Tom and Jerry shorts whose traditional role is as the foil to Jerry Mouse; encyclopedic summaries describe his chiefly physical, often mute comedy, his evolution from quadrupedal to bipedal characterization, and his famous screams provided by creator William Hanna used later as stock sound effects [3]. The Wikipedia-style synopsis documents Tom’s long-running role in slapstick shorts, his occasional vocal appearances, recurring conflicts with other characters, and how the character’s design and behavior changed over decades of animation [3].
3. The maps company: TomTom — not a cat or a cartoon
TomTom, spelled as a repeated name, is an independent location, navigation and map-technology specialist offering GPS apps and live traffic services; its corporate site and app listings promote maps, real-time traffic, precision routing and community-powered hazard reporting to drivers [4] [7]. TomTom positions itself as a privacy-oriented navigation provider and a “moving world” technology company distinct from entertainment uses of the name “Tom” [4] [7].
4. Other “Toms” and how the confusion spreads
Beyond those three, web results include fan wikis, legacy app listings and local businesses using “Tom” or “TomTom” in their names — for example, fan-run Talking Tom & Friends wikis with community content and app-store pages for older Talking Tom releases — which can amplify ambiguity when someone searches only for “Tom” [8] [9] [10]. App listings for earlier Talking Tom apps and user review snippets show how nostalgia and individual user accounts further blur which “Tom” people discuss, while unrelated entities like restaurants or bars named “TOMTOM” appear in search results and can mislead casual searches [11] [9].
5. Bottom line: define which Tom matters to the question
If the goal is to identify a specific product, character or company, the data point to three primary referents: the modern mobile franchise Talking Tom (Outfit7 apps and site) for kids and casual gamers [1] [2] [5], the classic Tom Cat of Tom and Jerry for animation history [3], and TomTom for navigation technology and mapping [4] [7]; without further clarification, statements referencing just “Tom” are ambiguous and can conflate entertainment IP, corporate tech and local businesses [5] [4] [3]. Reporting here is limited to the indexed sources provided; if the question instead refers to a particular person named Tom not covered in these sources, that cannot be confirmed from this file set.