Yahoo today said it has acquired Alike, a Foursquare-like offering that helps users find and recommend nearby venues. Alike’s app for the iPhone and the web, and its personnel will join Yahoo’s mobile division.

Interestingly, the news came just as CEO Marissa Mayer said the company hopes to whittle its mobile app library from a morass of 60 to 70 titles to a more manageable dozen or so. That strategy indicates Yahoo hopes to tightly integrate Alike’s features and services across a variety of its apps, including local search, social networking and navigation.

Yahoo was a force in the early days of mobile data, when feature phones dominated the market and the carrier portal was prime real estate. Those days are long gone, of course, but the promising world of local mobile search is still in very early days. Yahoo still has a high-profile brand and a respectable list of advertising partners that will expand as the company increasingly focuses on mobile. If it can execute as it makes location a crucial component of its line of apps, Yahoo could get back in the game.