BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe has announced his departure from the radio station, revealing Apple has hired him for an undisclosed position at the company.

Lowe will host his final show on March 5 before heading to Cupertino where he will likely work on the upcoming relaunch of Beats Music for iOS 9.

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Beats Music has been in the works since Apple acquired Beats Electronics for $3 billion last year. Apple wants to make the music streaming service competitive against Spotify and Rdio, the two big players in the industry.

Even though it's not been confirmed, it's likely Lowe will spot new talent and help with curation on Beats Music, similar to what he did on BBC Radio 1 when he spotted Arctic Monkeys, Adele and Ed Sheeran before they achieved massive fame.

Lowe is known for his connections inside the music industry. He's landed exclusive interviews with artists like Kanye West, Jay-Z and Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. He's heavily involved in the music scene and has a large following in the UK.

His ability to grab these exclusive interviews could be utilized if Apple tries to make Beats Music more social, possibly being able to follow an artist and get updates sent straight to your phone.

This would be an interesting way for artists to keep fans up to date, a la Twitter. This, again, has not been confirmed by Apple or Zane Lowe.

Apple has been on a hiring spree for well-known talent. The $70 million pick-up of Angela Ahrendts is the most notable, pulling her away from her chief executive position at Burberry to be in charge of retail at Apple.

Having Beats Music on iOS 9 could be another service to keep users embedded on Apple's mobile platform, in turn keeping them buying iPhones. Some 74 million iPhones were sold in Q1 2015, 100,000 units more than Samsung's whole mobile lineup.

Apple needs to make sure customers are willing to pay a subscription fee on mobile. This is something they've probably not had to do on other Apple services (unless they own an iCloud account).

TagsZane Lowe, BBC Radio 1, Beats Music, music streaming service