Joe with his new toy

Thou shalt not covet thy friend’s toys, so please forgive me for I have sinned.

I was catching up for coffee with Joe Nguyen, vice president-Southeast Asia, of comScore this week and he had his iPad proudly displayed in front of him.

Actually I think his nose was buried in it when I came into the coffee place where we were meeting. His ear was meanwhile glued to the phone. With his other hand free, he gestured to me, acknowledging that he had seen me.

This is the modern male today – he can multi-task better than his ancestors.

I walked up to him and peered down at the flat, little screen he had standing in front of him.

He told me he got it from the US as soon as it came out and has also put in an order for the 3G Wi-Fi version, which will be available in Singapore in July – which is when I am supposed to be getting my hot little hands on it.

"So what will you do with this one?" I ask.

"This is for my kid. This is his future," declares the man who lives and breathes digital media for a living and lifestyle.

"It is good to start them young," he says.

We spend at least half an hour playing with his iPad. This is the modern day business meeting – gadget talk and play before work. He shows me movies he’s downloaded – the whole series of The Pacific. Ho hum. Guy movie.

He shows me books he’s bought. "I had a Kindle and this one has a Kindle app so I can download my books into here," he says. I see a Dan Brown in there. Ho hum. Guy book.

Have you stopped buying books, I asked him? Yes, he says, showing no mercy.

He then shows me all the reports comScore does – and that’s probably thousands and thousands and thousands. This company churns out reports like there is no tomorrow which in Internet time is necessary because tomorrow seems closer to today than yesterday.

We then get down to the point of our meeting – I wanted to pick his brain on some consumer trends in the digital media world.

His eyes light up. "I love numbers," he says.

It is possible Joe is torn between two lovers – numbers and gadgets. Guy thing.

I only had time for one personal question before we had to end our meeting. "How’ve you been?"

"Man, busy, busy. No time for anything."

Guy thing. No wonder he’s got no time for anything when he’s got everything in one flat screen.