Google's Schmidt Named Top Tech CEO, After Exiting

According to Glassdoor, which surveyed employees at top Silicon Valley companies, Schmidt received the highest approval rating, at an incredible 98 percent. By comparison Apple CEO Steve Jobs held a 95 percent rating, down from 98 percent a year earlier.

But uncertainty looms as Google co-founder Larry Page retakes the helm during a key transition period. The Internet giant's main business -- advertising -- is shifting to mobile devices. As a result, Google has been developing mobile products, such as a cloud-based music service and mobile-payment technology to capitalize on the next battleground for advertising.

"Many of our big bets -- on mobile, display advertising, and more -- really started to pay off", said Alan Eustace, Google's senior vice president of engineering.

Google faces fierce competition from a number of well-equipped competitors. Apple and Amazon, for instance, are developing their own cloud music services, while Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and wireless carriers, are all racing to establish a beachhead in a $1.13 trillion mobile-payment market. To beef up for the fight, Google is looking to hire over 6,000 employees, setting up a showdown for the future of the tech industry.

Fortunately, Google's Android is now the world's leading mobile operating system, ahead of Apple's iOS software and Research in Motion's BlackBerry platform, giving the search giant a significant advantage over its rivals.

"Android now runs on over 100 devices with more than 300,000 activations each day", Eustace said.

The success of Android is due, in part to Schmidt's leadership. His rating climbed to 96 percent from 93 percent over the last two years, underscoring the victories achieved during the smartphone wars. Google is now hoping to gain that same success with its Android tablets.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of Glassdoor's ratings, Michael Dell and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer hold approval ratings of 48 and 40 percent, respectively. Amazon's chief Jeff Bezos maintained a relatively high rating of 83 percent, while Oracle's Larry Ellison dropped to 73 percent from 77 percent a year ago. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz plummeted to 50 percent, from 77 percent, in just one year.