Apple External Optical Drive and PCI Chassis

In wake of early criticisms regarding one optical drive bay as well as limited (3 PCI) expansion on the new PowerMac G5's, MacNyt.dk (Danish) publishes two interesting reports based on Apple reseller documents:

The first MacNyt.dk report claims that Apple is currently in cooperation with a "PCI Chassis Developer" on a product to provide the new PowerMac's additional expansion beyond the three internal PCI slots on the PowerMac G5.

A second MacNyt.dk report on the same document reports on Apple's plan to introduce an Apple-designed external optical devices which can be shared amongst multiple Macs.

(Note: The graphics associated with the articles are simply concept icons and not meant to represent actual products.)

We've received reports of other hardware products coming from Apple. One referenced by ThinkSecret -- only known as Q6. Recent reports have also indicated that Q54 and Q41 are in the works -- and that "lots of hardware" is in the pipeline. Few details are otherwise available.