Final has been in Java for a lot longer, but you're also missing the point. Immutability should be the default, or at least not a secondary citizen to the dangerous and often unnecessary mutability.
Yes, I still remember how in Ceylon they just did "value x = bla" and the variable was immutable by default.
If you wanted to actually make it mutable you had to write it out as "variable Type x = a" to make it stand out and be really annoying to have mutable variables.