Yes I always thought the same to, the digital release was to please the fans so there would no backlash in the 2 month gap when they announced the physical release (which I still think is a very smart move).

I didn't think it was too bad, I mean considering Utada is virtually unknown the US I thought it was quite good to get those sales with an digital album release.

Even though we are in the digital age, a lot of people still prefer to buy the physical CD rather than download a full album as we tend to just download our favourite songs off the album and not the whole thing.