The third edition character sheets released in 2000 were about the same page count for the exact same price.
WOTC isn't exactly hiding the downloadable character sheet, plus there are many fan made character sheets. I have to believe that most of the people who choose to buy the character sheets, in spite of all the alternatives, are getting the product they intended to get. It isn't a product I would get, but there is no accounting for taste.
For the people that bought the sheets and it wasn't what they wanted, don't you think it would have behooved them to track down reviews first? Especially if the product description was as vague on the back cover as it was on the website. As always, looking should preceed leaping, not the other way around.
Even for people without internet access, $10 still buys a hefty amount of notebooks and pencils right?