Acer is not a donkey which follows any Apple and will not be releasing anything that looks like Jobs' Mob's latest iCon.

Acer Taiwan president Scott Lin said that any idiot could make the iPad and it represented no technology barrier to his outfit. He said such a gadget did not fit into his company's cunning plans for the future. Instead Acer will focus on pushing ultra-thin notebooks for 2010.

Apple is able to support the iPad through its iTunes ecosystem, while few other makers, including Acer, have comparable experience in operating an online store, Lin noted. Closed platforms, like the iPad are typically limited in terms of scale and are confined to niche markets. Jobs Mob has been carving its own niche, which means that while Apple could see success with devices like the iPad. However others cant replicate its result simply by copying.

He didn't think the iPad was going to make any impact on the notebook/netbook markets as the two products target completely different consumer groups. According to Digitimes Acer expects its large-size traditional notebooks to account for 50-60 per cent of total notebook shipments with netbook at around 20 per cent and ultra-thin notebooks about 20-30 per cent.

Acer will also push notebooks with a thickness of less than 2cm as a major product for 2010, Lin noted.