Apple, Google: Silicon Valley's sweethearts

Cupertino and Mountain View rule the Silicon Valley, according to a poll

If an unscientific week-long poll carried out on the Silicon Valley-San Jose Business Journal has anything to say about it, Apple and Google are the two most admired companies in Silicon Valley, and by a long margin at that.

In the end, Apple and Google garnered 35% and 22% of the poll's votes, respectively, combining for a majority total of 57%--sheer tech world domination.

Cisco took third-place with 11%, followed by HP with 8%, Intel with 5%, and Oracle with 4%.

Of course, tech world veterans and novices alike could have easily guessed at who would win a competition of this sort.

Google's popularity usually goes unstated. The usage of "google" as a verb for performing some Web search has been permanent now for so long, it's become unremarkable. Likely, the company hopes it can spur the same kind of popularity for its other services--Google Apps, Google Chrome, Google Chrome OS--but we'll be the deciders of that. Either way, no one can debate the significance of "Google Wave invites" trending on Twitter so often. Google's innovations please people.

As for Apple, we need only look at the numbers. In addition to seeing three of the most profitable quarters in its history this year (a triply incredible feat considering the recession and CEO Steve Jobs' absence for much of the year), Apple has cemented itself in the mobile market, with a report this week from Nielsen calling the iPhone the most popular phone in the country. The Cupertino-based company has seen such widespread popularity that the iPhone App Store's succes has even been extended to third-party companies; for example, Tapulous, a Guitar Hero-like music gaming app, is reportedly making $1 million a month.

Only time will tell how long these kings of computing hold on to their precious thrones in this constantly-changing industry.