Not Ready For Prime Time

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What Does Not Ready For Prime Time Mean?

The phrase “not ready for prime time” or “not yet ready for prime time” implies that a system or product is not fully finished or not designed in a way that will help it to compete in a current market. This term is used in a negative way to describe technologies or items that people feel will not be received well by a certain audience.

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Techopedia Explains Not Ready For Prime Time

The phrase “not ready for prime time” is an analogy to the television networks’ placement of new television shows in primetime broadcasting slots. Many also attribute the source of the term to the show “Saturday Night Live,” the cast of which was originally known as the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players.” Over time, the term has become popular to describe any lack of confidence that a new product or initiative will succeed in its intended goals or be effective for a target audience.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.