I actually like the concept of Newsstand, I just think it hasn't been executed well at all so far. I think Newsstand should be a section of iBooks - so you just got to one app to read books, PDF manuals and similar, and iPad newspaper and magazine titles.
It's not pointless at the moment, because if you subscribe to any of the Newsstand titles (including big names like the NYT, The New Yorker, Wired etc) Newsstand is the only way you're getting them on the iPad.