It's not that simple. PocketPC has been superior to Palm devices in every respect since their launch. Palm still owns the hand-held market.

Well, ever since the Pocket PC was released, Palm was loosing a considerable market share to Compaq with the iPaq. Devices before Pocket PC (WinCE 3) were crap though. Bad color screens, bad battery life (the rechargability helped this a bit), and bulky. The OS was still very Windows centric (works well with a keyboard and mouse, and badly with a stylus and small screen), and was also slow on the devices it was sold on.

There will always be a market for a Palm based PDA though. My mother for example. I bought her a Handspring Visor last Christmas because it was all she needed. Basic address book and scheduling capabilities. My iPaq was just too complex for what she needed.