According to All Things Digital, Acer President Scott Lin has changed his mind about building a competitor to Apple’s new iPad – because Acer doesn’t have anything like Apple’s iStore ecosystem in place.

“Historically, closed platforms are typically limited in terms of scale and are confined to niche markets,” Lin said. “Apple has built its business out of carving its own niche, which means that while Apple could see success with devices like the iPad, other players are unlikely to be able to replicate its result simply by copying.”

An interesting admission, particularly since it seems to openly contradict what Wang said just about a week ago. Of course, at this point, with the iPad not yet released and the tablet market as nascent as it is, Acer’s tentative view of things is understandable. Why mess around with an unestablished, unproven market when the company is doing just fine peddling netbooks and other portables? Better to throw its full weight behind the broad spectrum of notebooks–traditional, ultrathin and netbook–where it’s already quite strong (Lin notes that Acer shipped about 31 million notebooks in 2009).

That said, Acer would do well to keep an eye trained on Apple. Because according to Deutsche Bank (DB), the iPad will give it claim to about seven percent of the low-end computer market by 2011. Said Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore: “We expect the iPad to compete very well against existing low-end notebooks and netbooks, particularly in the segment of the market where surfing, reading, game playing and emailing dominate the usage model.”

The first quote, from Acer, is presumably available for change at any moment. The second quote, from Deutsche Bank, is perhaps more interesting. They map out a set of coherent use values for the iPad and they are approximately the same set I can see myself having.

When I get one.

Which won’t happen until I have seen what they look like in actual use, heard the problems actual users have (as opposed to the problems some pundits predict that they will have), and watched what happens when versions 1.1 and 1.2 of the OS become available.

I also want to see the process of keeping and syncing a diary and addressbook in operation. If I can’t do that then an iPad is not worth it. If I can, and the iPad has the same instant-on that the iPod Touch has, then it most definitely will be.

“Surfing, reading, game playing and emailing” are approximately what my netbook is good at, plus note-taking of the Evernote variety. The main problems with the netbook are slow starting and sluggishness, both of which the iPad (in theory) will solve.

We shall see.