The AI Strategy Playbook

AI & Technology

Why Flat-Rate AI Was Always Going to Break (Part 2 of 3)

In Part 1 I laid out what happened to flat-rate AI pricing in March and April. This piece is about why. Once you put OpenAI's inference spend, the projected 2026–2027 US AI capex, and the actual size of the consumer AI market in the same paragraph, the surprise stops being that flat-rate plans are cracking. The surprise is that they held this long.

Iqbal Abdullah · May 14, 2026

AI & Technology

The Pricing Emails Are Landing (Part 1 of 3)

Three weeks ago I wrote that data centres in space looked like a bubble. The bubble showed up sooner than I expected, and not in orbit. It showed up in the pricing emails landing in my inbox. GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing on June 1. Anthropic has been quietly tightening Claude limits since March. The flat-rate AI subscription era is ending.

Iqbal Abdullah · May 12, 2026

Marketing

Your Platform Is Your Future — Build It With Intelligence

Is your digital foundation ready for the future? An Intelligent Platform is no longer a luxury but a necessity for scalability and competitive edge. By integrating modular architecture and data insights, you can transform a static tool into a dynamic growth engine. Let's explore how to build one.

Ngazetungue Muheue · May 7, 2026

Tech Community

Tokyo Python Spring Talks: Email, Monorepos, and Why People Stay With Python

Discover the magic of the Tokyo Python meetup, where developers of all levels gather to share knowledge. From deep dives into email protocols to monorepo strategies, this community proves that the people are what make the language truly powerful. Explore the highlights from the latest Spring Talks.

Iqbal Abdullah · April 17, 2026

AI & Technology

Building Data Centres in Space: This Smells Like a Bubble

Blue Origin has filed for 51,600 satellites. SpaceX wants a million. The AI power crunch is pushing data centres into orbit. From where I sit, running an AI company in Tokyo, this has the classic shape of a bubble. Small businesses should be looking at the ground, not the sky.

Iqbal Abdullah · April 9, 2026

AI & Small Business

SoftBank's AI "Central Kitchen" Solves the Right Problem the Wrong Way

SoftBank is building a platform to aggregate newspaper and publisher content for AI companies, with revenue sharing for creators. As someone who runs an AI content company in Japan and has been arguing for compensating creators for years, I should be cheering. I am not. Not entirely.

Iqbal Abdullah · April 7, 2026

AI & SEO

ChatGPT Has 3.2% of Search. That Number Is Both Reassuring and Dangerous (Part 3)

SparkToro's data shows AI tools hold just 3.2% of desktop search. That looks small, and it is. But if you focus only on the current number and ignore the structural mechanics underneath, you will be caught off guard by the shift that is already happening.

Iqbal Abdullah · March 31, 2026

AI & SEO

Not All Searches Are Equal, and Pretending They Are Will Cost You (Part 2)

SparkToro's research lumps Amazon product searches, YouTube video queries, Instagram lookups, and Google searches into one basket. That is a category error, and if you base your marketing strategy on it without understanding why, you will misallocate your budget.

Iqbal Abdullah · March 26, 2026

Marketing

Traffic Is Nice, but Trust Is What Converts

Many marketers focus solely on driving traffic, but without Brand Trust, those visitors rarely convert. Research shows consumers pay more for brands they believe in. By prioritizing transparency, you can bridge the gap between visibility and revenue. Let's explore how to turn clicks into lasting relationships.

Ngazetungue Muheue · March 24, 2026

AI & SEO

SparkToro Says Google Has 73% of Search And I Have Questions (Part 1)

SparkToro's latest research claims Google has only 73.7% of desktop search when you count 41 major websites. The number is interesting, but the methodology behind it deserves serious scrutiny before anyone rewrites their marketing strategy.

Iqbal Abdullah · March 17, 2026