Apple May Be Missing A Huge Opportunity For The Mac

Apple partnered with IBM last year to sell iPads to businesses, but it may be missing a a huge opportunity, according to a recent note by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster.

"We believe that Mac may actually be a bigger enterprise opportunity than iPad," said Munster.

Apple has a lower market share of computers than tablets among businesses, and more business employees use a computer than a tablet, Munster pointed out.

That low market share and vast computer market is an opportunity for the Mac.

However, the iPad may be holding Apple back from capitalizing on its desktop. Part of Apple's iPad strategy is to convince businesses to switch from computers to tablets.

But Munster seems to think the Mac will continue doing well - and could even outperform competitors - thanks to the iPhone.

"We believe the continuing trend toward Macs driven in part by the halo effect from the iPhone could continue to slowly penetrate enterprise and provided sustained healthy growth for the Mac segments above that of the industry," he said.

In October Apple unveiled a Retina iMac with a fantastically vivid display. If the tablet market has hit a wall, Apple could push the Mac instead.