I seriously doubt that e-Chat will be the messenger of the future^TM, but it is a step in the right direction. I believe in open protocols and standards, but as long as big giants like WhatsApp are around it seams super unlikely to me that a new service will take it´s place. My university has its own xmapp Server, which we are encouraged to use, but as long as one student don´t uses it, the whole system is somewhat useless sadly.

But I wish you good luck with your goal.